Posts Tagged ‘virtual assistant’

Sometimes your workload as a virtual assistant can get quite heavy. One of the best ways to handle it is to outsource some of your work to other virtual assistants. But, where do you start with that? Let’s dig a bit deeper to get your mind wheels spinning. If we can get you out from under some of that heavy load of working all the time, life will be a whole lot sweeter, right?

What Tasks to Outsource

When you work with clients, there is a measure of confidentiality going on. Companies trust you with their databases, email correspondence, meeting schedules and legal documents. These can’t fall into the wrong hands. So, as the person who won the client and is responsible for keeping their information safe, you have a decision to make about what you will allow others to do for you.

The first important decision that you made was to work with someone someone else who can provide the same service that you have for your clients (more about that in a moment). Congratulations on letting go of the reins just a little bit. Now, what will you give them to do?

The jobs that you will probably be looking to outsource at first are those that don’t involve a lot of contact with confidential information. And, the jobs will be small at first so that you can get an idea of your new helper’s work style and ethic. Here’s a short list of tasks to help get the juices flowing:

• Article submissions
• Article writing
• Creating reports and presentations
• Creating newsletters
• Internet research

Article writing can be used for website content or article submissions. Clients with websites like to keep it up-to-date with fresh, pertinent information and if you find someone who can help you whip out that content in a timely and top-quality manner, you’re in business.

Companies use reports to send to their clients and also for internal use. Creating reports involves knowledge of tools such as spreadsheets and databases as well as how to pull information together for presentations using PowerPoint. Depending on the information contained in the reports, this may be the perfect job to let go of and pass on to someone else.

Internet research is used for many things: writing manuscripts, articles, preparing reports and more. It is a unique skill to be able to entice search engines to give up their treasures. If you have someone helping you who doesn’t mind digging into research and possesses the skills to find what you need quickly, you’re on the right track.

Even if you don’t outsource any job that involves confidential material, it is wise to get any subcontracting virtual assistant to sign a confidentiality agreement. This way, as you get more confident and need more in-depth help, you don’t have to worry about anyone selling trade secrets. On that same note, you may want to consider having all your assistants sign and Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) depending on the nature of your work. While we won’t go into detail about NDAs, this can help protect you should you and your assistant part ways.

Choosing the Right Person

Who you work with all depends on your personality and their level of proficiency with the task. First of all, no two people will do the same job exactly alike. Let’s get rid of that preconceived notion right now. If not, you will drive yourself crazy and nitpick over everything they do. What you are looking for is someone who knows what they are doing and can demonstrate the skills needed to get the job done correctly and on time.

Outsourcing is the perfect way to get the help you need from other competent virtual assisting professionals. Start with small jobs and progress to more delicate assignments as you see fit.

About the Author
Becki Noles, Visionary of Virtual Accuracy Companies has been at the forefront of stream-lining coaching and entrepreneurial businesses since 1998. Utilizing her background in marketing, publicity, corporate training, advertising and media, Becki custom tailors and implements individualized action plans for taking coaching businesses to the next level. As a Virtual Assistant her business partners with top business and executive coaches in the United States, Canada, Switzerland and the world over.

Time management can be interpreted in several ways. But it is commonly understood as proper allocation of time in terms of maximizing it by accomplishing more tasks. It could be applied to a lot of situations, whether in business, school, home and basically everywhere that requires something to get done within a certain period of time.

Time Management In Focus

With a lot of things to do in a span of 24 hours, most people have a difficult time setting their priorities and recognizing the things that must be done first. There are a lot of distractions in life that can take our attention away from far more important things. Eventually, most of us fail to maximize our use of time that we end up accomplishing nothing for the day. Hence, the big question is: how do you manage your time?

Time management works very much like economics. It is an allocation of scarce resources, which in this case is time, in order to reap maximum efficiency at the end of the day. However, we don’t need to become good economists in order to efficiently manage our time. All we need is common sense and good sense of judgment in order to maximize everything we do.

Some Things To Consider When Managing Time

In order to properly manage your time, there are a few things that you have to consider. You have to condition yourself to do the most important or most urgent tasks first. This is what sets responsible people apart from those who aren’t. Knowing what things to prioritize first will help you to overcome all those distractions along the way.

However, recognizing your priorities is just mainly your first step. As the cliché goes, it is easier said than done. It is best recommended to write down the things you have to do for the day. When you already have the checklist or to-do list for the day, you have to create a mindset wherein you must fulfill them.

Knowing what your priorities are is just the first step. Relaxation is also an important factor in our everyday activities. The best thing to do is to initiate periodic rest times ideally 10 minutes every 2 hours in order to relax your mind and muscles from the stress. Relaxing once in a while also improves your concentration in what we are doing and increases our productivity.

Advantages Of Time Management

There are a lot of advantages to properly managing our time but we will just discuss a few and most important ones.

It eliminates cramming – When you have properly set your priorities, you are able to finish your task early. This cuts time and you’d be more likely to accomplish things in advance. When you do your work earlier than usual it allows you to achieve better results because you could allocate more time to focus on your task.

Eliminates stress – Proper Time management helps you eliminate the stress because you properly allocate your time for work and rest.

Proper allocation of your time is a hard task, but once you get used to it, you are sure to become more productive.

About the Author
Becki Noles, Visionary of Virtual Accuracy Companies has been at the forefront of stream-lining coaching and entrepreneurial businesses since 1998. Utilizing her background in marketing, publicity, corporate training, advertising and media, Becki custom tailors and implements individualized action plans for taking coaching businesses to the next level. As a Virtual Assistant her business partners with top business and executive coaches in the United States, Canada, Switzerland and the world over.

Time is precious to ALL business owners…so anything that frees up time and helps business is invaluable! A Virtual Assistant (VA) does both – and more! Business owners – like you – hire VAs to free up time, help business and SAVE money! Yes…I said SAVE $$$. That may seem like an oxymoron, but just stay with me here. VAs are self-employed. They pay their own taxes, their own insurance, they pay for their own equipment and furniture, for their own training, etc. Plus! YOU CAN MORE THAN LIKELY WRITE OFF VA’S FEES AS AN EXPENSE – and you don’t have to pay taxes for a VA (as you would for an employee) or provide benefits and insurance…THAT’S HUGE! Any savvy business person sees the value in this right away!

So, why should you hire a VA?

1. To save money

2. To fill a position or to help with a temporary project

You (i.e. business owner, entrepreneur, etc.) pay only for the VA services used – only when needed – no down time. One week you might have 20 hours of work for the VA, the next, only 5. Why would you pay a full-time, onsite employee (who probably can’t get done in a day, what a VA gets done in 2 hours!) benefits, vacation, taxes, lunch breaks, chatting at the copy machine, etc…when you can partner with a VA to do it for you in half the time – for half the expense???!!!

Jennifer Cummings, Entrepreneur and Owner of Keytura, Inc., who has been using virtual assistants and virtual outsourcing for years says, “My virtual assistants and consultants have helped me execute so many of the ideas I just had sitting on my desk. Using their services, I take action…which means I make more money! They are invaluable to my business!”

At this point you might be asking, “Well, how do I know this VA is doing what I’m asking her to do? How can I trust her?”

Well, that’s not hard. #1 – If your VA is not doing what she says she’s doing, it’s eventually going to become VERY obvious. Things won’t be getting done and it will show. #2 – Your VA will keep track of – and provide you with a detailed record of – tasks completed & time they took. #3 – and this is HUGE…

Your VA is a business owner just like you!

Your business success is KEY to your VA’s business success!

If your VA screws up your business, she is – in essence – screwing up her own. What person in his or her right mind would do that???!!! You both (you and your VA) need to think of each other as business PARTNERS because that’s exactly what you are. You are partnering your businesses for success!

About the Author
Jennifer Claggett is a virtual assistant and a stay-at-home mom. Visit her website at http://www.VirtualAssistantMom.com to learn more invaluable, easy-to-use virtual assistant tools and information.

Susan Holmes is an author and professional speaker. She travels frequently and hates coming home to piles of bills, unheard telephone messages and thousands of e-mail. Susan works harder and harder spending most evenings and weekends doing administrative chores and spends the workday servicing clients. No matter how hard she works Susan cannot get ahead. She begins to suffer from the symptoms of stress. She can’t sleep, doesn’t bother to eat regularly, suffers from anxiety to the point of feeling paralyzed when confronting the mess on her desk.

Susan wishes Superman really exists so that he can swoop into her home office and rescue her from the foot high stacks of paper on her desk that are threatening to topple over. Susan tries to keep up as best as she can but soon she is so overwhelmed that she turns away paid speaking engagements in order to do administrative work.

Can you identify with Susan? Do you dread opening your office door because it isn’t a pretty sight? Hopefully you have a friend like Michelle. After months of trying Michelle finally talks Susan into having lunch. Michelle is taken aback at how tired Susan is and how unhappy she seems. After Susan confides in Michelle she gets silent and stares at the table. Michelle jumps in an offers Susan a solution that will both relieve her of her stress and allow her to pick up more speaking engagements.

What is this magical solution? It is a Virtual Assistant (VA). Michelle has been using a VA for several years because she once was in Susan’s position. Michelle explains to Susan that her VA handles all of her administrative and marketing tasks in addition to answering the phones from a remote location. The benefits of working with a VA becomes clear for Susan as Michelle tells her that she only pays for the time her VA works for her and that benefits and taxes are not an issue. Susan begins to think about all of her tasks she can outsource to a VA that would allow her to take on more speaking engagements. Susan also realizes that a VA can market her book and her articles and search for more lucrative speaking engagements. Michelle then explains that a Virtual Assistant handle a multitude of tasks including:

Answer phones
Business correspondence
Article Submission
Paperwork
Design marketing materials
Typing
Document formatting and clean up
Proofreading and editing
Marketing
Direct mail
Voice and e-mail monitoring
Research
Select and ship gifts
Travel arrangements

Lunch is soon finished and Michelle is suprised to see that Susan looks more alert and happy. Michelle offers to search for and screen VA’s while Susan organizes the work that needs to be turned over when someone is hired. Finally, Susan tackles those stacks of paper on her desk and the dust bunnies with gusto. Within just a few hours she is ready to delegate work and a few days later, thanks to Michelle, she begins working with Alice. Susan and Alice create a set of tasks that Alice will handle daily and then Susan packages up all the paperwork from her desk and sends it to Alice. In addition to the daily work Alice does she also motivates and supports Susan in her business goals.

Several months down the line Susan shares the secret of her success with her other friends and one by one they seek out and hire a Virtual Assistant. Lives are improved and businesses grow at a fast pace.

If you can identify with Susan then you need a VA. Don’t let money issues hold you back. A VA can be suprisingly affordable when you calculate how much more billable work you can accomplish instead of handling daily tedious tasks. Go through that messy pile of papers on your desk and organize them with an eye towards delegating everything that you can. Seek out and hire a VA that will help you avoid going crazy and you will be glad you did!

About the Author
Bonnie Jo Davis is a Virtual Assistant who helps small businesses succeed by taking over those daily tasks that can drive even the most level headed entrepreneur crazy. For more information about Bonnie visit Davis Virtual Assistance.

Or the icing on the cake!

It’s all about the show!

If you’re going to put out an ezine, a newsletter, an eBook, a manual or some other document with your name on it, it’s important to put your best foot forward.

You can’t just throw on your “duds” and go out “looking like that!”

So, to keep you from looking a bit like you don’t know what you’re doing in your written presentations, consider these hints for proofreading.

Don’t rush

If you’re rushed to get your ezine, your newsletter or other project done at the last minute or otherwise, you might be inclined to skip the proofreading altogether.

Spell-check is your friend!

Although, there may be a time or two when you wish you didn’t use Spell-check–because occasionally it just does not get it right.

The Gremlins

Common trouble makers are the words that sound alike, spell differently and sometimes give a whole new meaning to what you’re talking about. Words like “your” and “you’re;” “its” and “it’s;” “to,” “too” and “two.”

And this is not all!

First impressions, and all that!

Here are several more tips to consider when you’re putting the finishing touches on your written work:

Make sure you capitalize only proper nouns

Unless you’re me!

I really like to capitalize words, other than proper nouns, and sometimes do it more than necessary (or I suppose more than correctly)…as exaggeration for effect! To make a specific point stand out!  So I confess to taking some “writer’s license” now and then.
It’s sort of like that “because I said so” thing!

Have someone read what you’ve written before you print, “hit send” or seal the envelope!

It’s a lot easier for a second party to see misspelled words, transposed letters, incorrect word usage and the like when that person is not as close as you to your end result.  If you have no one available to do this, leave your work for a few hours, and then come back to read what you’ve written.

Print it out, then proof!

“Misteaks” are lots easier to see when you can hold them up to the light. Although I suppose you could enlarge the Verdana font size in a Word document to size 28 or so. Nevertheless, it’s usually still easier to proofread from a print document.

Tou dnats sekatsim pleh ot sdrawkcab daer dna, dne eht ta trats

Well, somehow I don’t think that’s quite what the guideline means, although it really is easier to see errors when you “read it backwards”. I mean, hello, the whole line ^^^ above is an error!

And finally,

When in doubt, look it up!

Now I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have a concern about that. Because even if you have the bestest dictionary and style guide in the world if you don’t know how to spell a word or barely know how to start it, neither will do you much good.

So there you have them for now. We’ll have more again one of these weeks!

In the meantime, good luck in “righting” your “writing”

About the Author
Get a complimentary copy of “Tips and Tricks to Grammar and Proofreading” and a subscription to “On the Bright Side,” our weekly ezIne, when you click to http://www.Konceptuality.com. At Konceptuality, we specialize in proofreading, editing, and ebook production support services, as well as general administrative support to Coaches, Speakers and Consultants. Email Karen McGreevey, Virtual Assistant and Expert Author, at kmcgreevey (@) konceptuality.com, for details.