Archive for the ‘Tips to Save Time’ Category

No one likes being pitched to all the time? How do you feel about telemarketers calling to sell you a new service? What about your neighbor who talks about how great he is all the time?  If you are like most people, you are turned off by these behaviours.  The same is true for social media!

• Friends, Connections and Followers are People Too!

Value their time just as you value yours. Just because they are on Twitter does not mean they are right for your target market or that you are for them.  You will have much greater success connecting with like minded people.
If someone adds you to their network, check them out. Is there a relevant reason they may be interested in you and your business? Check out their profile.  Many people have a rule that they do not follow anyone who doesn’t include a photo in their profile.  Over time, you’ll have to set some boundaries about who you follow and who you let follow you.  These boundaries will allow you to form greater, more meaningful connections with those you want to do business with.
For instance, if your business is centered around creating products that help parents keep their kids away from non-kid friendly sites online, then you obviously don’t want to be talking with (or associated with for that matter) someone who owns an adult-only website. Yes, that’s a bit extreme, but you get the point. You really should pay attention to (or hire someone who can monitor) who follows you and who you follow in return.

• Social Media is about connections NOT sales.

One of the surest ways, short of posting completely inappropriate content, to lose all credibility is to use your social media for selling yourself and your services exclusively.  No one wants to be chased at a store by a sales clerk any more than they want to follow someone who is constantly selling something.  It is okay to tell people about your products and services but this has to be a part of your interaction, not your only interaction.

• Having unrealistic expectations

Please don’t expect that you are going to create a new account, start posting great content and immediately see your sales and traffic increase.  It will happen, but it takes some time and effort. One of the amazing things about social media is that your efforts are multiplied over and over when people who you are connecting with share your content.  Social media is very powerful and can and will benefit your business, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will a list of thousands of followers all ready to purchase from you. Based on my experience with more than 50 clients, you can expect to take 3 to 6 months to build a presence which you can then use to build your business.

• Letting your social media involvement become a time drain

It is easy to lose track of time with your social media networks and unless you keep on task, it can become a time waster.  You need to learn how to make it work efficiently; read about how to do this here.
There is no right or wrong way to work social media into your schedule, but it is essential to find a system that works for you.  Be aware of your time and make plans on how and when to use social media to help market your business.

Hopefully these 4 tips will help you stay on track with your social media marketing.  Feel free to ask us how we can help on our facebook page, or simply post a comment here – We’d love to hear some of your tips and pitfalls to avoid.

Technorati Tags: efficient business, office organization

Have you ever tried to teach your Mom – via phone – that the google search box is NOT the address bar on her browser? And that the website won’t open if she types the ‘www thing‘ in there. Life cannot get more frustrating than this!

During one – on – one training sessions with clients, I sometimes run into the same type of frustration as I help them learn to maneuver about in their twitter and facebook accounts. Teaching them what to look at, what to click and where to go to find something. Describing the screen and where I want them to click or visit can get frustrating because descriptions of buttons and links don’t always sink in easily.

Lately, I have started using Skype’s Share Screen feature with people to easily be able to show them what I mean. It allows you to chat via Skype with your computer screen visible to the other party – they are not logged in and cannot use your computer, but they can see it and more importantly, your mouse. In my case it allows the other party to see what I am talking about and we make much more effective use of our time and with less frustration.

Skype can be used for text chat, video chat or phone chat as well, in order to use the Share Screen feature, you need to be upgraded to the latest version which has the Share Screen function. Check it out and save yourself some frustration. Of course you may need to walk ‘Mom’ though the download of Skype – but it will be well worth it!

Here’s a quick video on using the share screen function…

and thanks to Grace White of Virtually Amazing for helping us on the screen share video!

Technorati Tags: office solution, virtual training

>> Please note this post is intended for people who use Twitter and related applications.  If you are looking to start out on Twitter and other social media channels but are unsure how/what to do, please contact Time on Task – we can help!

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This past week I ran into several issues I did not realize were happening until a few days later – all related to Twitter passwords and some external twitter applications.

In a nutshell, you have to keep in mind what applications you are using that require your twitter username and password.  If an application requires this for use on a  regular basis and you change your twitter password, you may have to change the password on these external applications as well.  Two prime examples are Tweetdeck and Tweetlater. Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: Social Media, social networking, twitter, virtual assistant

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.

Technorati Tags: office support, Organization, Small business, virtual assistant

As part of Time on Task‘s quest to help businesses work smarter, we have recently launched our monthly Newsletter full of many ideas.

This month’s feature article is a system created to help you keep your Email Inbox under control.  It’s called DANG, My Inbox looks Great! The core of any Virtual Assistant’s business is to help their clients work more efficiently and that is why Time on Task  came up with this system.

Just visit our website, sign up for our monthly newsletter and you’ll receive some great tips on Social Networking, keeping in touch with clients and the 4-step crash course in how to keep your inbox under control.  Something many, many people struggle with daily.

It is possible to take control of all your emails, even those of you with a few hundred or more daily.  Sign up for our Newsletter today, and you soon will find your self being able to say “DANG, My Inbox Looks Great!”

Technorati Tags: email, office organization, organize, virtual assistant