Entries from November 2008 ↓

A little shameless promotion as we head into a snowy weekend…..I’ve been profiled in a new book recently released by the Women’s Enterprise Centre titled “New Pioneers” Stories of 100 BC Entrepreneurs!!!

I’m very honoured to be included in the book  (although I won’t comment on the Pioneer reference but I’m really not that old) and congratulations to all  the other fabulous female entrepreneurs of BC also profiled in this book.

The stories in this book showcase the successes and challenges which BC women entrepreneurs have faced. The book also highlights the support these women have received from friends, family members, women’s business networks and business service providers. Check it out! 

We also had 15 seconds of fame in the Globe & Mail in an article about how great Virtual Assistants are.

Have a great weekend!

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

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

To stay in touch with what’s new in your profession and the virtual business world, subscribing to e-newsletters is a great idea!  I subscribe to several that appear regularly in my inbox each morning.

I know it’s a challenge to find time to read all these newsletters but I do encourage you to do so. Narrow down your subsciption list to those newsletters that frequently provide you with useful information, aren’t too lengthy and get straight to the point.  Even so, not every issue will have information that’s relative to your business, but every now and then you’ll come across a “nugget” that proves extremely valuable. 

“Skimming” has become a talent of mine, quickly scanning a newsletter for items of interest.  Newsletters that are delivered in the morning are great because you can ease into your workday by scanning them first thing.

Or, if you’re too busy, you can “categorize” them to be read later and set aside an hour each week to catch up on your reading.

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.