Entries Tagged 'Working Smarter' ↓

Here’s an interesting article by Derek Sankey on what virtually working looks like in the future. Enjoy! http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Welcome+world+virtual+work/2786923/story.html

I read an interesting article on Salary.com about time-wasting employees. It was written several years ago but I assume the information is still current. The article says that America Online and Salary.com conducted a survey wherein the average worker admits to frittering away 2.09 hours per 8 hour workday.  A table of statistics shows the greatest percentage of time was wasted surfing the Internet for personal use and socializing with co-workers. 

What a great lead-in for marketing  the Virtual Assistant profession.  Visit the websites of VA’s and you’ll find they are an ideal solution for getting the maximum value for your dollars.  Sure, we drift off into cyberland once in awhile but we don’t charge our clients for that time. Visit http://www.salary.com/personal/layoutscripts/psnl_articles.asp?tab=psn&cat=cat011&ser=ser033&part=par1083 for more information!

Has your inbox become a chore all on its own?  In the “old” days, I could end my day with an empty inbox except for the items I needed to deal with in the next few days.  My “Send” box was always emptied each week and filed in the the appropriate folders. Somewhere along the line, these mailboxes became overwhelming. 

Some ideas that have worked for me…..

• Only keep those emails in your Inbox that you absolutely need to respond to in the upcoming week. 
• Unsubscribe to any advertising or newletters you don’t really need to know about. It’s like getting rid of clothes you haven’t worn in the last year.
• Instead of marking these items as “Junk Mail”, get rid of them entirely. 
• If you’ve had back and forth correspondence with someone and the entire conversation is still in the body of the latest email, delete all the previous versions.
• Categorize the emails in your inbox with colours to signify business, personal, “to read”, etc. Then you can sort by Category and deal with all in that Category at the same time.
• I would suggest moving all your “to read” emails into a Reading folder but there lies the danger of “out of sight, out of mind”, but this method may work for you.
• Emails with subjects that need to be dealt with in the near future but not immediately: drag them over to your Calender and set a BF date. You’ll have the body of the email right there in that day’s schedule. Then move the email itself to an appropriate Subject folder.
• When deleting or moving emails in your Sent folder, try sorting them first by Subject and clearing them, then by To or From. You’ll find it easier to delete in batches, particularly when you’re deleting emails to and from personal contacts.

To subscribe to our “Virtually Working” newsletter issued January, April and September, email tana@virtualofficeservices.ca  or click on the newsletter icon at www.virtualofficeservices.ca

With another long weekend approaching here in Canada, let’s take a moment to discuss the importance of “taking a break” away from your business.  Taking time off, even for a short period such as a long weekend is well worth it in order to re-energize and balance your lifestyle. 

Particularly for those business owners who are home-based, the temptation to wander into your office on that stat holiday and just finish up “a few little things” (which ends hours later) is too much.  Granted you may make a small dent in your tasks, but in the big picture you haven’t given your mind a well-deserved rest from the biz. 

I’ve found that my best ideas come sitting in my car as I’m travelling far away from home.  That change of scene allows me to take a more objective look “from the outside-in” while not being bogged down with work. It’s not necessary to actually take a trip to achieve a change of scene. Using your time off to complete some household and personal tasks will be a refreshing change and you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment in those other areas of your life. 

So when those stat holidays come around once a month or so, take advantage of them to give yourself a break. You deserve it!!  One exception, if it’s a really cold, miserable day that’s not good for much else….well, okay….maybe spent a short time at your computer……but be sure to give yourself a full day off at another time during the week.

I’m sure this is a common concern among my readers. Lately,  my days absolutely fly by. Why is that?  Am I getting (dare I say it) old?  Or, am I spending my time ineffectively?

I often run out of day before I run out of tasks to complete.  Being a stickler for efficiency, it’s always been my goal to finish today’s work today, which is a great philosophy and has worked brilliantly in the past. However,  in an effort to maintain a regular marketing strategy and test the assorted marketing techniques recommended by the experts, it seems there isn’t time to do it all.

In my quest to identify which are effective marketing strategies and what is just a plain waste of my time, I ask you, my fellow VA’s and other online entrepreneurs:  a. Have you been able to maintain a regular blogging shedule? and b.  If yes, has it been an effective marketing tool for you?

Looking forward to your feedback!

Kudos to those amazing entrepreneurs out there who seem to juggle 3 blogs, 2 newsletters, upteen list groups, regular marketing events and still get any sleep. I bet you’ve hired a Virtual Assistant to help you.

Summer is literally around the corner and it can be an interesting time for a Virtual Assistant. It can be extremely slow, or on the flip side, extremely busy, depending on one’s clientele.

This is the time many clients take a vacation from their own businesses or projects so the VA life can be a bit slow at this time of year.

On the plus side, by nature of having a home-based business, is the ability to schedule your day to  enjoy the sun (hoping it will be sunny!) and to work after hours. 

But…. it’s also a great time for clients to use this quieter time of year to start up new projects, finish old ones that have sat on the back-burner or hand off projects to a Virtual Assistant that regular staff can’t complete because they’re on vacation, or the office is too shorthanded.

If you’re a VA, or any other online entrepreneur, and business is a bit slow at this time of year, look at it as the perfect time to get a marketing routine started up and try out new approaches.  And, it’s a good idea to start a summer marketing campaign back in the spring in anticipation of the upcoming quieter months.

Great Virtual Tip for today: www.gotomypc.com - Access your own or a client’s PC.

*To receive this blog in your inbox, please email tana@virtualofficeservices.ca

As I mentioned in my last blog, the best laid plans can go awry, but often for the best. A service for which you thought there would be a spectacular demand just isn’t, but ”out of the blue” a client may ask for a service that you hadn’t given any thought to providing. By viewing this request as an opportunity, one can stumble onto a whole new path with exciting results. Such was the case for me when a company asked me to provide personalized computer training for its employees.

Not being a “stand up in the front of a class and teach” type of person, I was initially tempted to decline, however I re-thought the idea and this has evolved into an opportunity to provide one-on-one personalized computer training, teaching 1-3 people at a time, based on each person’s needs, beginning with the basic basics of how a computer works. 

This is an ideal service as I’m able to share my knowledge of computers and Microsoft software programs that I’ve gained during my years in the Virtual Assistant profession, and personalize it to the student’s abilities. The shortcuts and tips I share are particularly well received. One-on-one tutoring has proven particularly effective as the student tends to feel more comfortable asking questions in this setting. More effective learning is accomplished in a single session than in a classroom full of students with varying levels of skill because students don’t feel too intimated to ask questions.

Great Virtual Tip for today: www.ccleaner.com - A free optimization and privacy tool that removes unused files from your system.

*To receive this blog in your inbox, please email tana@virtualofficeservices.ca

Well, here I am again! After writing my last blog about the art of procrastination, I proceeded to do a brilliant job of doing just that…..procrastinating. So now that  I know I have a talent for procrastinating, I shall try to be equally as capable of producing a blog on a regular basis. After all, the virtual world is counting on me to share my wisdom.  In retrospect, I think my hesitancy came from feeling I had to write the “perfect” blog each time and at the end of a busy work week, when the old Outlook reminder popped up to let me know it was time to write my blog, the inspired words just weren’t there.

Now, this is not to say this is how I handle client work. Completely the opposite, I become consumed with completing a project on time and prefer to actually finish well ahead of schedule to suitably impress the client.

I’ve recently re-directed my business to focus on projects, as well as personal assistance. I’m loving this new direction as I’m able to schedule my time so much better and I’m so not tied to my desk all day. I can work in the evenings, the mornings, weekends, whatever works best for that week.

On this note, I’d like to recommend flexibility as key to providing Virtual Assistant services.  No matter how well thought out one’s business plan is, often fate sends you a client with a request for a service you hadn’t even contemplated offering, but it sounds so interesting, you can’t resist. More on that next time!

Great Virtual Tip for today:  A free PDF creation tool -  www.pdf995.com

*To receive this blog in your inbox, please email tana@virtualofficeservices.ca

Everyone suffers from procrastination to a degree but it’s especially a stumbling block for entrepreneurs working in a home office. There’s no one looking over your shoulder. To be sure, a client’s deadlines are first and foremost, and a tangible milestone to reach. However, focusing on tasks that involve one’s own business, such as expansion plans or marketing initiatives are easy to put off until the next day.  There’s always  ”busy-work” to be found that’s more appealing or phone interruptions to delay taking the time to attack these tasks in-depth. It brings back memories of leaving homework to the last minute at school.

One of the best ways to approach this problem is to break each task into chunks and each chunk into bite-size pieces. For instance, if you have three major projects you want to complete, don’t work on just one project for hours. Instead, schedule one hour for each project. This way you’re making a dent in each project, feeling a sense of accomplishment for having tackled all the projects and enjoying some variety as well.

Here’s a link to a podcast from Career Joy with Dr. Tim Pychl, an expert on procrastination, with more great ideas. http://www.careerjoy.com/index.php?q=node/340

Great Virtual Tip for today:  A very useful screen print tool -  www.snagit.com

*To receive this blog in your inbox, please email tana@virtualofficeservices.ca

As a Virtual Assistant, my posts will tend to lean towards my experience gained from providingVirtual Assistance. However, I hope that I will also provide useful information and tips for any e-business utilizing the Internet to conduct business.

First things first,  everyone knows that as with any business, there’s lots of work involved in starting an e-business and of course the first step is creating a business plan. There’s a tremendous amount of research, analyzing, chatting with competitors and daydreaming to define your unique service or product. But…..I can’t emphasize enough….the most important criteria is a passion and enthusiasm for the business you’ve chosen to create.  If you thinking about an area of business for any number of reasons, i.e. it’s the “trend” of the moment, it seems like a big money-maker or you have a bit of knowledge in the subject area, BUT it seems to be mostly drudgery to create that business plan and it’s just not flowing out of your fingers, this may not be the ideal business for you.

Great Virtual Tip for today:  Free online software training with the HP Learning Centre - http://h30187.www3.hp.com/

*To receive this blog in your inbox, please email tana@virtualofficeservices.ca