Posts Tagged ‘virtual assistant’
Look on the Bright Side of Life as an Entrepreneur
Kathy with Pamela Bruner at Transform 2011
Many of you know I was away at a conference last week. I headed to Fort Lauderdale in Florida to Transform 2011, an event hosted by one of my clients, Pamela Bruner who recently crossed the threshold to earning a 7 figure income (Very exciting for her!)
It was truly an eye opening conference for me as I came to some self realizations about my business, services and where and how I want to grow my business.
I met so many other entrepreneurs who were doing much of the same, based on my conversations and observations.
Kim, Rita, Moira & Me visiting Fort Lauderdale Beach
It was definitely a good investment of my time and money to attend especially for all the people I met and the marketing and sales lessons I received from Pamela’s presentations.
One of the last lessons I learned was on my trip home, which as per the usual for me, was filled with many an adventure via my mode of travel, Delta airlines again.
Now I know many of you readers will be thinking, “Oh No, not again! Did she have to take a taxi back from Maine to Nova Scotia this time too!” (see Dec 2010 blog post for that adventure!)
No worries, this trip was not near that level of adventure…
So on to the “Bright Side” of my trip.The parts to my journey were filled with many a change, but I had just spent the week learning about changing my business, and change is good.
- The morning I was to leave, it started with a note on my phone that my flight was delayed… making me a tad nervous to get started on my journey! (ie. flashbacks to lots of delays and an $800 Taxi ride in December)
- Delta kindly rerouted me, through New York instead of Detroit because of the delays going west (lots of extra booked passengers helped as they were happy to take one off that flight to make room for someone else) and they managed to move me from that original plan to another plane, that was going to get me home about the same time. (Whoohoo)
- The new flight meant a much later departure time and more airport waiting, but things move as planned, we get in the air with only a small delay. I am happy, comfy and fall asleep.
- 50 minutes into the flight, I am woken by some noise and commotion. I can tell something is happening and soon the Captain announces that due to a medical emergency on board (!) we will be taking a small detour to Savannah, Georgia to get the passenger some help. (nothing too serious in the end as he was able to walk off with help from the paramedics)
- With a little more delay we head to New York with most everyone thinking they are probably going to miss their connecting flight if the time between was close, as was for me. (we landed 45 minutes after my next flight was to leave, and got stuck in a lineup on the tarmac.
- The Captain announces the lineup is because there had been a quick storm that passed over New York which as it happens made many connecting flights later and lots of us managed to catch them, like me!
- I catch the connecting flight, we wait again in the lineups to take off and uneventfully, I make it home. All told, I was about 4 hours later than planned, but home – which made my daughter a very happy camper! The more than two days to get home episode in December was still clear in her mind.
Now you might thinking – Bright Side, what Bright Side?
Well, here’s the thing about all the events that took place above, I gained some extra time while waiting in the airports and lineups. That time was very helpful in that I got out my notebook and refined all the ideas and notes from the conference and essentially created a new business plan, some new services and an entire new outlook on my business. All that time was a gift. I spent almost half a day writing and planning and putting the ideas on paper, refining them until I was clear on what my new vision was to be.
If all those delays had not occurred, that time would not have been available to do this. And if you are like me, once you get home from a conference there is a pile of things to take care of. Things that get in the way of finishing off your takeaways from the conferences, and making new plans that always come with new lessons.
The other parts to my Bright Side?
- I got to visit Georgia for the first time, even if only for an hour and from inside the plane!
- I met a lovely young couple from Turkey who were on their honeymoon
- Also met a businessman from Seattle (who was Tom Hanks double, Hanks must have a brother with a different name!)
- I even managed to give Bob a good lesson on using social media for his business!
As entrepreneurs we are always tackling change and when you do, looking for the bright side of these events can really give you a different outlook on life.
My advice?
Embrace the roadblocks you encounter as you never know what you will find behind them!
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.
The Benefits of Gmail
Hello, my name is Kathy. I am addicted to Twitter
Staying Productive: The Magic of Checklists
What do emergency room physicians, airline pilots, and kindergarten classes all have in common? They all use checklists to make sure they’re doing the right things at the right time. While they’re not sexy or fashionable, checklists are the backbone of many a successful business. Here are some ways checklists can help entrepreneurs keep their businesses running smoothly and productively:
- Checklists provide a guideline for outsourcing or delegating.
Want to outsource slideshow creation to a contractor? Send them the details with your “slideshow creation” checklist, and they’ll know exactly what you want them to do, in order. - Checklists make it easy to replicate best practices.
Once you’ve pinpointed the exact way to create killer sales pages, you can document that and do it over and over again. Brilliance! - Checklists save time by eliminating the “what’s next?” stage.
You know when you finish one thing and have to stop and think, “What the do I do next?” Or “What did I forget?” Well, with a good checklist you won’t have to do that anymore. You’ll know. - Checklists ensure that everyone is on the same page.
When you’re collaborating with partners, assistants or virtual assistants, it’s easy to lose sight of who’s responsible for what and when. Checklists make it easy to assign tasks and remind yourself the proper order of execution.
Not all checklists are created equal, though. Research has shown there are a few key ingredients for making good checklists:
- Keep it to one page. Longer checklists are intimidating and make it easy for people to get lost. Or they’ll avoid using the checklist because it’s just too darned long.
- Be specific. Especially if you’re outsourcing or delegating, you have to leave no room for ambiguity.
- Test it out. Once you’ve created what you think is a great checklist, give it a go. See if you’ve left anything out or put too much in. Then refine it and test it again.
- Have someone else test it. Of course, you know what you mean by “add graphic to web page,” but will someone else? Give it to someone else to test and see what they come up with, where they get stuck, and what works well.
- Use it! Checklists don’t do any good if they’re languishing on your hard drive. Use them – and if you find yourself NOT using them, ask why. Is it too complex? Too self-explanatory? Too simple? Then use that information to create a better checklist.
While checklists won’t solve all of your productivity issues, they are a fantastic way to simplify complex information and provide guidance for outsourcing. They can be a bit time-intensive to create, but the time that you’ll save on the back end will be well worth the effort.
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