Time Management
Why did I hire my Virtual Assistant?
Recently, I met with one of my clients, one who had started working with me back in January. We have had a lull in work lately mostly because she was trying to make everything perfect before handing it over. Finally at this week’s meeting she realized that this was actually holding her back in all areas of her work.
As we talked about a timeline when I would get the work and what the deadline was for some of it, she then mentioned how she was going to block off two days in a few weeks to go through all her files and sort everything out to give to me. She was also talking about how her workshop was coming up and that she had a conference out of town in 3 weeks as well. Very busy time.
So… I casually asked ” Why did you hire me?”
The answer from her was “To help me get this work done and off my plate”.
I said “Right, but look what you are doing now. You are actually thinking of blocking off two entire working days to sort the work for me; and when I get it I will have to do that to most of it anyhow.”
I paused, “Now think, how many client appointments could you book and what income would you earn from those in the two days?”
“Four clients”, she said. “And about $1,000.00.”
“And…. how much money will you pay me to do the work?” I asked.
“Argh!” was her answer. “You are so right. I will box it up right away!”
I think the stress of all she had going on, finally made her see the light.
Working with a Virtual Assistant (VA) shouldn’t be stressful – it should be the absolute opposite. As long as you have good communication and trust, you can easily give your VA what she (or he) needs and the work will get done. A simple system for assigning and handing over the work and it will get done.
You will gain what you wanted by hiring your VA in the first place… your time back to work on more important tasks and the work not requiring your special skills gets done.
How do you manage your day?
Life has gotten busy. Business has picked up and just when school let out for the summer! Yeahhhhh! (can you hear my fear?)
In an effort to keep on top of my tasks and clients I have been working on creating a system for over a month. Nothing was working. I tried online calendars, shared calendars, spreadsheets , a notebook and more.
The notebook was actually my preference for tasks, not so much appointments though. These I seemed to need in my Outlook calendar. I needed the popup reminder whether on my computer or my Blackberry.
Fine… appointments solved, now the tasks and client work; which is the crux of my business and cannot be missed. I decided to look around my office supply store and indeed found what was similar to my notebook, but had the structure my scribbler was lacking.
What I ended up with was a planner that has one page for the week and appointment times from 7am to 7pm and the second page is like a notebook page with lots of rooms for notes and reminders. It’s what I thought I was looking for… and having been using it for a week, it has turned out perfectly.
I was re-reading my Time Management book by Julie Morgenstein and she goes into detail about how people can be Visual/Tactile or Linear/Digital. The stress is on discovering what works for you and then using that method.
I guess I am a mix of both; for tasks I am visual and I know it. Clients files are on the desk and the planner is open there as well. I need to ‘see’ my work to do it. But for kids appointments/meetings/seminars I am digital, which has the added bonus of a reminder bell. What systems do you have in place?
I can't join another Facebook group or page!
It’s a comment I hear a lot lately, people are getting ‘grouped out’ on Facebook. Personally, I don’t see the issue and there is a simple solution.
Let’s look at the problem first. What happens when you join a group or page?
Well.. for starters, you are now connected to many more people through the group. hmmm… that was kind of the point in ‘working’ Facebook for your business wasn’t it?
Then you start to receive updates or invites to events. Let’s see… if you respond, your update goes out to all the members… again, your name in front of many.
Now, when someone posts a note, wall post or link, on any of the groups or pages; their post will show on your wall. Which also means, if you make a comment on another group’s wall or page, your comment will be seen by all the group members or fans. Wow, so many people you are talking to.
The issue everyone seems to have is when they start to RECEIVE all these notes, invites, links and more on your Facebook homepage…that’s when most people become overwhelmed and stop joining anything.
Well… if you are like me, and have more than 100 friends on Facebook, you probably have lots of stuff already being posted on your wall from actual friends – not to mention the flower gardens, butterflies, IQ challenge tests, TV quizzes etc, etc, etc. Do you read all those? Probably not… that’s why everyone skim-reads now. Way too much to take in. You skim and only look further into items that catch your eye.
So… long before you joined any groups you had trouble brewing already. How do you deal with it and still remain connected to all the groups and pages? Read the rest of this entry »
It's Tax season… Are you ready for your Accountant?
If you have a great expense tracking system for your business and can say the word “Accountant” right now without having bad thoughts of something hidden in your closet, then this column is not for you.
If however, like many busy people, you have been stuffing slips and receipts into an envelope or box – you may be feeling a bit stressed at the mention of the words tax and accountant.
Finding a solution to keeping track of expenses and invoices can be as simple as hiring a virtual assistant (VA) to do them as a special project right now, or to be even more efficient, on a regular basis during the year. Keeping up to date also means you have a better picture of where you stand financially.
Recently, I took on a client to do just this for her during the year – this will take me about 1 hour a week to keep her on track – and will save her double that in time, as well as allowing her more time to work directly with clients and invoice them.
More revenue and less time wasted, one of the major benefits of hiring a Virtual Assistant. Hiring someone for one or two hours a week is something most businesses would never think of doing. VA’s make this a possibility. They work for several clients and only for the time needed, and can take on a job that may only require one or two hours a week as well as ones needing 10 hours a week.
My advice to you as a business owner, is to look at your bookkeeping system and how effective it is. If you are in a position right now where you will have to take several days to sort and organize everything in order to get your taxes done, may I suggest you look at a time saving alternative such as hiring a virtual assistant.
Call our office for a consultation and learn how you can be ready to smile at your accountant every time you see him or her.
How will you get organized?
Last Thursday at my good ol’ workshop with CEED, Jane Veldhoven of Get Organized! Professional Services was speaking to our group on Organization and Time Management. Like many who bring up time management she also stated that time management is not really about time, as you only have a certain amount of time every day. It’s more about managing the activities you have to do each day and make them work in the time available.
For some this may mean hiring a Virtual Assistant such as myself, to take care of the many tasks that have to be done, but which take too much time to complete. For some it may mean learning how to better organize yourself so you can manage these tasks your self, by hiring someone like Jane to come in your space and help your reorganize, make a system that you can follow. Read the rest of this entry »
Learn the basics of Twitter – understand what a DM, RT and Hashtag are and how to use them
Follow a typical schedule that will help you remain efficient and effective with your time spent on Twitter
Click here to buy your copy nowfor only $12.00.
Download your FREE eBook on Productivity for Entrepreneurs
Join the Social 4 Biz Club
Get your social media questions answered during a live call every month PLUS learn new tricks and tips to using Social Media for your business. Forum support as well for help throughout the month.
