Business planning
Backlinks on your website explained …
Tech Support is Vital to Small Biz Owners
Who is your Tech Support Department?
I recently did a presentation to the IAAP Halifax Dartmouth Chapter (International Association of Administrative Professionals) on Working Virtually with Clients. Essentially I was giving traditional Admin Professionals a view on what you need to start your own Virtual Assistant Business and how you can work virtually with people.
The essence of the talk is that as a Virtual Assistant (VA) you are a small business owner and now responsible for all things related to your business: operations, sales, marketing, accounting, as well as the main business services you offer and then of course, technical support.
Technical support as a small business owner is not something to be taken lightly. Especially for a business like a Virtual Assistant. Everything we do is on our computers – client files, info are stored here and almost all of our business is done via our computer. Without our computers we could hardly carry on any business. Yet, it is an area that many people take lightly and tend not to weigh as important as it should be.
In my talk to the IAAP, I recall using these exact words when it came to technical support:
You now own your own business and are solely responsible fro Technical Support – there is no longer a helpful person on call when needed to help fix your computer issues or help you when your computer screen goes blank for no reason. There is also no mysterious backup system in place that backs up all your files overnight while you are home sleeping.
You will need reliable tech support and I do NOT mean your friend’s 14 year old son who is “good with computers” .
A friend who owns her own business recently took the plunge and got a computer; prior to this all paperwork had been done by hand or in a spreadsheet: client records, orders, inventory… everything. They have moved into the computer generated world, which is a good step. I learned of this upgrade when I drove my son home from school last week – he mentioned his friend will not be going to Scouts that night because he was going to be setting up his mom’s laptop and computer for her business. His age?? 14. 
Her computer will help run the business in an easier more efficient way and allow clients to make online orders via email from away… a good step forward. Her choice of tech support professional however, is not one I would recommend.
As a business owner you need to make certain you have reliable technical support. Get a professional to help you determine the needs for your computer system, recommendations for firewalls and anti-virus systems and the most important part, your backup system. You need to make certain if your computer crashes that you can be up and running as soon as possible. If you have lost all your files, records, and programs you can be sure that it may take days or even weeks to restore everything you need.
Think about this… and think about what system you have in place. Don’t let a poor choice of support for your business be the cause of days and weeks of lost work and revenue and worst of all – your client’s confidence in your services and abilities.
Getting back on the blogging track
Well… it has been a while since I have posted a blog hasn’t it? I feel like I have totally derailed my blogging efforts and along with it my SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Online Visibility.
I have put blogging on the back burner for the last two months and can you ever see what a difference it makes in your website traffic and website rankings.
I look at both of these items every month and check my progress, and I can tell you both have gone down. My website traffic has gone down about 20% and my website Alexa rankings (not exact science I know, but a good gauge) have gone from being in the 720,000 range to 912,000 (lower is better).
So this blog is a short and simple one and is me publicly declaring the value of blogs (as noted by the stats above) and my commitment to continue to keep to a weekly schedule of blog posts here at Time on Task.
I have an editorial calendar planned out and it is time to follow it!
My next blog will be much more informative! Expect it by next Friday – or feel free to remind me with a poke on Facebook!
Are you monitoring your Online Reputation?
Time Management – Phone Calls at Work
How to keep personal phones calls from interrupting your business
If you depend on the phone for business, you need to find a way to keep the lines clear for business. If not, you can find yourself getting annoyed, frustrated and less productive. Take note of how many calls a day you take or make that are related to your business. Then write down the amount of personal phone calls you get that interrupt your business calls and work day. This will give you an idea of the importance of the calls and how much time you spend on each.
The one thing that you have to do is figure out a plan that will help you keep your calls in order. You don’t want to be interrupted when you are trying to talk to a potential client and have the beep of call waiting make the prospect lose focus on your conversation. Interruptions are considered something that is ‘not necessary now’. Of course you want to know immediately if you have a death in the family or if something bad has happened but there are certain things that you should not bother with at work.
It is important to figure out what is getting in your way and stop it. Most of the time, people find out that friends and family may be causing a dip in productivity – especially when you work in a home office as I do. Ignoring the problem will not help you at all.
One day I had a relative call during a training session with a client and I had forgotten to turn off call waiting (my practice during important calls). Lucky it was a good and patient client. My relative called my office line, home phone, cell phone and then the office line again. At this point I excused myself a moment and took the call only to ask her “Are you dying, is Mom in the hospital? If not I am talking with a client which is why I did not pick up any of the phone lines and you need to leave me a message.” She apologized when we talked later that night and it has never been a problem since.
Some options?
- Having two different phone lines may be the right answer if you want to ensure you receive personal calls.
- You might want to answer personal calls only on your cell phone and the business calls managed by your office line.
- If you are working away from a desk you may want to have two cell phones on you at all times. Then one would be used for work only and the other would be for your personal calls to be handled.
If two phones are not an option you may just want to keep your cell phone off during the day so that you are not bothered with personal calls. This may be the best way to handle the problem of being bothered when you are trying to make or receive calls.
Remember running a successful business is one thing that you do not want to forget about. Make certain you are putting enough time into your clients and business and not talking on the personal line all the time. Some tips to help you manage these types of call or interruptions are:
- Mark off certain times of the day for your personal time. You might want to make all the calls that you need to for business in the morning or before two in the afternoon so that you are not being bothered with other things.
- Let people know your schedule so that they are not calling during the important times. This is going to help eliminate the problem calls that you are getting so you will not have to stress over it.
- Use Voice Mail or let the machine get the calls that can wait.
- Use Caller ID to help you make the choice of a call that can wait or not. Turn it off during very important calls where the beep can be distracting.
- If you have a problem caller – tell them otherwise they will never change their calling habits.
Learning to manage your time is one of the most efficient ways to make your career soar. You want to be able to have time to work on your business as well as give your family and friends time too. The only thing that you can really do to rectify the situation is make time for both. Figure out a plan of action that is going to work best for you and never let either one interfere with the other.
What tips to you employ to make certain you can connect with family and run your business?
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