The process of recruiting somebody to help you in your business is one of the most difficult tasks that any business owner can face today. Even in a hiring environment that is so densely populated with people who find themselves to be newly unemployed, the task of finding somebody “good” is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.
If you are a really focused individual, who knows exactly what he or she wants in life, is dynamic, proactive and driven, you represent gold to the business owner. It is truly quite amazing that the majority of people who are applying for these jobs just do not fall into this category.
When you are in business you have to surround yourself with people who are driven in this way. They may not share your entire vision in exactly the same way as you do, but they should nevertheless “buy into” what your company represents and must be able to contribute to its long-term viability and growth. It’s a business owner’s dream to be surrounded by people who are motivated, self-starters and who instinctively know exactly what to do in any given moment of crisis.
While finding staff at the executive level to help head various departments or roll out new ventures may be one thing, we should never underestimate the importance of finding staff that can help us with the day-to-day operation of each department within our business. While there may be less at stake here, these individuals nevertheless contribute to the greater good of the company. Without their focused and well delivered effort, the company is likely to flounder.
It’s unfortunately true that many would-be employees still view their employment as a means to an end. They may be in fact relatively good at what they do, but they’re not inspired and not likely to seize an initiative should it be needed. For example, if there were a better way of doing a particular task, a really good and forward thinking employee might suggest it and know how to implement it. Unfortunately, this kind of employee seems to be few and far between.
This is a good reason why business owners should consider outsourcing many of these positions to virtual assistants. You see, a virtual assistant is invariably a small business owner him or herself and knows full well what it takes to drive the business forward proactively. The virtual assistant can become not only someone who takes on, very cost-effectively and efficiently, many of those outsourced tasks, but could also become a valuable partner, advisor and someone who contributes in many more ways than one to the business growth.
Next time you complain about the lack of star quality among potential new recruits, consider outsourcing that particular position to a contributory virtual assistant. You will find that not only will the associated task be completed carefully, correctly, on time and within budget, but you may well be able to draw on the experience of the VA to help you further consolidate.
why work-life balance is so important by TheProperVA
After starting your own business you may have faced an unexpected additional pressure that didn’t exist in quite the same way when you were employed. As you start to understand the scale and extend of the tasks involved in realising your aims, this pressure can become overwhelming at times. You may be wondering how you’re going to get everything done? How to progress? It can feel like you’re getting nowhere fast and frequently this results in working longer hours, with no time to relax in the evenings or at weekends. Furthermore, technology has enabled a permanently connected state, where it’s more difficult to ‘leave work’ and consequently, you frequently feel that you need to justify any downtime. It’s an exhausting and unsustainable way of life and achieving a balance between work and the rest of your life becomes increasingly difficult. That of course has negative knock-on effects to your business, as you cannot operate at your best, cannot serve your customers properly, will likely lose profit, and aren’t able to create the business that you’ve always dreamed of. But what can you do to improve your work-life balance in a situation like this? As a Virtual Assistant, I can tell you how you can regain your work-life balance and why it is so important.
How you approach your business and more importantly, how you approach your downtime can have a huge impact on your work/life balance and ultimately your business.
Well, you have to find what’s Important to You workwise and in life, when you establish that it will be much easier to balance it both.
So, how does your dream work-life balance look like? It might be organising work around your family, allowing time for a hobby, or creating the freedom to live abroad. Know what you want your work-life balance to look like on a daily basis.
Lets talk Work first
There will always be a great deal to do, and you have three choices on each task – forget it, do it, or delegate it!
If you chose to carry out the task it’s worthwhile exploring ways to work smarter and save time. Are you working efficiently? Improving processes and making better use of online systems can free up a large amount of time at a very low cost.
You can regain Your work – life balance by working with a Virtual Assistant!
Outsourcing as much as possible is a great way to gain momentum in your business by freeing yourself from the tasks that slow your progress. Your Virtual Assistant can take responsibility for tasks or entire roles within your business, such as administration, customer service, content marketing, social media management, website development and project management to name a few, giving you time to focus on your core business tasks, especially those within your specific expertise that create revenue, subsequently increasing your potential profit whilst improving the overall operational capacity of your business too.
Now, lets talk Life!
I have a few mindset tips to help you make time for ‘life’…
Set boundaries with everyone – your family, your business partners, customers and suppliers. Try to manage their expectations, communicate your work hours and stick to it wherever possible – don’t reply after hours!
Be kind to yourself – don’t beat yourself up, try and reduce the negative self-talk, take a breath and chill… you are where you are!
Put time aside to take care of yourself. Down digital and go running or for a walk, relax in the bath or read a book, do something creative – try and do something that shifts your focus away from work.
Work smarter, because following our mindset tips and delegating the support tasks in your business to an expert VA will help you free up an incredible amount of time each week, which will allow you to either increase your earning potential or spend more time having fun – or perhaps a combination of the two!
I am a Virtual Assistant myself and know how stressed people can be over the daily admin tasks they have. When we start working together I can see the change. So many of my clients told me I give them time and I love when they say it. So, don’t wait any longer! Get in touch and organise free consultation. I am happy to help.
There is no doubt whatsoever that when it comes to the various different types of media online, video has become the undoubted favourite. Maybe it shouldn’t come as a complete shock to us as almost everyone prefers to watch a moving image rather than read something else in order to pick up the same information. Both video and audio represent dynamic media options as they are now available and accessible to every small-business owner online. There is quite a lot to appreciate, technically. Last year I decided I will start my YouTube channel and had to learn how to put all the parts together. How to create a video, how to edit, post and many more. Because I do it I can say I am Virtual Assistant that knows exactly what to do. For those interested my YouTube Channel is all about ketogenic diet (I follow for over 3 years now) and is in Polish. So, lets talk about what I can help you with in terms of Your Multimedia Projects.
1. Video Creation.
Based on the fact that as a small business owner you have a story to tell – or rather a multitude of stories to tell – you can repurpose the content and promote it in the form of a video. I as a virtual assistant can help you create a video, thumbnail, audio overlay based on voice or music. These videos can be based on a slideshow format or they can be a lot more sophisticated. Today, due to technology, there are many options available when it comes to displaying the video, so that is not an issue anymore. Outsource the design work associated with creating the video to me and I can will make sure you start the right way and will help you do it all.
2. Video Imagery.
No longer does the small-business owner have to play second fiddle to any larger organisation when it comes to the sheer impact of the video imagery associated with the company. I can create for you a truly professional, dynamic and hard-hitting “intro” that can in turn be used whenever an informational video of yours is displayed to a prospect online. Never underestimate the importance of portraying your organisation, no matter how small, in a very powerful light using a variety of special effects and audio.
3. Video Hosting.
Not too long ago video files used to represent quite a problem for webmasters as they were very large and would use a lot of bandwidth. This could represent issues in terms of the cost associated with bandwidth but also limitations imposed by some web hosting companies. Now, there are options available “in the cloud” and many different ways now available when it comes to rendering the actual video file itself. I ensure that there are no hurdles associated with the display of your video, without interruption, buffering and so on, to whoever wants to see it.
4. Video Marketing.
Just as it is important to distribute articles to top-line directories and other authority sites online, it is important to market the videos that your VA produces so that they are seen and can be found through various dedicated search engines. You will often notice that videos are displayed as an option in the Google search engine whenever you’re looking for information about a particular topic. When you outsource your video marketing to me as your Virtual Assistant it will give you added flexibility in terms of your overall business exposure. I can for example develop and manage your own YouTube business channel.
This week I would like to introduce you some Ideas for outsourcing your Financial Record Keeping to your Virtual Assistant. Virtual and remote work becomes more and more a reality for many of us. You can go and do most work-related tasks online to.
Even though it is becoming increasingly evident that outsourcing is the way to go for any small business owner who wants to expand and grow, it’s still difficult to pry those tight fingers away from the helm. It does seem to take a certain amount of education, after all, to convince the small business owner that other people can do many of those mundane tasks equally as well, freeing up time for creativity. Having said that, there seems to be even more recalcitrance when it comes to anything to do with the business’ financial records. Yet the virtual assistant can be a fantastic bookkeeper, helping to keep the accounting records in shape and ready for the end of the year. How can the virtual assistant help with control of those purse strings?
1. Accounting Software and Systems.
The virtual assistant keeps up to date with the very latest developments when it comes to accounting software and financial record keeping online. The VA will invariably be able to advise the business owner about the best financial accounting approach to take in this specific case. Once an accounting platform has been chosen, the business owner will be kept up to date on a regular basis with the financial position of the company. This will invariably represent an improvement over the status quo, as a typical small business owner is not very good at record keeping and just does not have easy access to a snapshot at any moment in time.
2. Business Receipts.
How often does a typical small business owner keep a stack of receipts in a cardboard box somewhere on a shelf? Due to having so many other things on the plate this is a standard mode of operation for many. Yet, unless those business receipts are categorised or classified as and when they originate there is a good chance that, with the passage of time, they will either become difficult to read due to fading ink or difficult to categorise due to fading memory. The VA can immediately record the exact details of these receipts.
3. Account Monitoring.
Cash flow can be a major headache for any business owner. It’s all very well establishing a budget at the beginning of the year, but the issues associated with cash flow can become more of a headache and can even be challenging to the business survival if not constantly monitored. A virtual assistant can – and should – help to create monthly or even weekly financial summaries and help to ensure that cash flow issues are clearly identified well ahead of time. It’s also important to ensure that a monthly bank reconciliation is cleared, so that the business never runs into problems with adequate funding.
A business owner should always seek to generate and maintain a highly professional, two-way relationship with a virtual assistant. This should never be a “hands-off” type of relationship and trust should be established very early on. This will enable the business owner to delegate financial record keeping matters to the VA with confidence.
In my previous articles, you can read about outsourcing Admin tasks, Social media and Daily Schedule to your virtual assistant online. Soon I will cover even more.
There are more and more small business owners that are aware of the concept associated with outsourcing. However, they might think that it is only applicable for things such as article writing or maybe some website work. These people tend to feel that they simply must keep on top of a lot of their routine, everyday work. If they don’t, won’t they lose control of the company? It can be difficult to let go, but in reality, someone like your virtual assistant is ideally placed to help with so many different elements of your daily schedule. Now, when we are all facing hard times, when we are all 6th week into lockdown, we are forced to stop work or implement a new way of working this might come in handy and show you ideas of your Daily Schedule you could outsource online.
1. Calendar Management.
If you feel that you are running around from pillar to post, always seem to be late for appointments (conference calls) and can never seem to fit in time for meetings with important prospects, then you should outsource your calendar management to a VA. When you’re busy doing other things meetings can be scheduled and you can be given plenty of advanced notice so that you are in the right place at the right time without feeling flustered.
2. E-Mail Management.
Time management and efficiency experts tell us that one of the worst ways that we can waste our time is to constantly drop everything to deal with e-mails as and when they arrive. So many of these e-mails can be time-wasters. Other e-mails represent an attempt by the originator to control your time according to their schedule. By putting a virtual assistant at the gateway you know that you will only be prompted to deal with emergency situations and all other e-mail can be handled by the VA in the background.
3. Customer Support.
Now that you’ve got an increasing number of important clients “on the books” you will find that there will be an increasing number of customer service issues to deal with. This is something that you must prioritise as poor support in this area will quickly gain you a bad reputation, to say nothing of lost clients. A VA will ensure that everything is handled carefully, professionally and promptly, with your input only required in predetermined circumstances.
4. General Tasks.
As there are only so many hours in the day the small-business owner will invariably find that there will be many calls for their time that may not necessarily be related to business at all. For example, running errands, gift shopping, social event organisation. All of this can be handled by your VA.
5. Trip Planning.
I know it doesn’t seem to be relevant now, but I am sure it will be back soon. We all know how long it takes to try and plan a trip. Those airline travel consolidator sites may offer you many different choices but you’ve still got to try and sort out your hotel, car and do so within your budget. Before you know it you’ve spent hours trying to arrange just one trip. Outsource this to a virtual assistant. Once you have given them the appropriate parameters they’ll do the rest with maximum efficiency.
Treat your virtual assistant as an extension of yourself. There’s no need to feel as if you giving up control when you outsource all of those general administrative tasks that in truth are simply non-productive and holding you back from becoming successful.
In my previous articles, you can read about other outsourcing ideas like Admin tasks or Social media tasks. And soon I will cover more.
The world as we know it is changing. Pandemic forced so many people to work from home or even stop working at all. What if you could work online? What if an online office was a perfect solution?
All businesses have the essential everyday background tasks to manage, but not all businesses need a support team with an actual physical presence to constitute ‘an office.’ For many years, innovative, forward-thinking business owners have been embracing the powers of the Internet and the positive working changes and opportunities that it brings and have preferred to operate with an online office. They realise using online systems and outsourcing tasks or entire roles within their business is simple, convenient, allows them to create their own freedom, and encourages business growth, whilst taking an almost non-existent business risk, making no long term commitment and receiving excellent value for money.
IT innovation is the fundamental driving force behind this change to working culture with the development of new secure platforms promoting and improving communication and collaboration. This transition to online working enables many kinds of workers, whether outsourced, employed, or entrepreneurial business owners to collaborate effectively and efficiently online.
Work Is No Longer a Place!
It used to be that you ‘went to work’. However, with these technological advances, work isn’t necessarily a physical location anymore, but an activity, a task… something you need to do, rather than somewhere you need to be.
Many businesses now find that there’s a financial and operational disadvantage to retaining a physical office premises with dedicated staff. As online offices prove themselves to be more efficient, more productive, and better value for money, they’re giving those operating online a competitive edge over their rivals.
The Perfect Solution? Oh yes – there is one out there for many businesses …
Two factors combine to work together and create the perfect solution in business support – online systems and virtual assistants.
Virtual assistants provide online business support across an astonishing range of roles and work with a multitude of online systems. Through reducing your workload and streamlining your processes by implementing an online office, your VA will positively transform your business and provide a scalable basis from which to build your success.
The incredibly intuitive, practical and efficient online systems available at little or no cost, cover almost all business support areas such as accounts, invoicing, payroll, customer service, document sharing and e-signing, project collaboration, communication, call answering, appointment systems, marketing, design and more!
Financial Benefit to Using an Online Office
The substantial savings in time and money by implementing an online office are clearly recognised. With an online office significant costs are immediately cut as there’s no rent, rates, or utility bills, and each worker provides their own working space and equipment. Whilst the online office systems themselves are well priced and the investment is well worth the regained time, the time savings allow a greater ability to focus on your clients, income generating tasks and business growth, leading to more sales and ultimately more income!
Among many other benefits, outsourcing to a VA provides you with professional assistance at a fraction of the cost of employing staff. It also secures a productive workforce, focuses on delivering specific tasks by agreed deadlines, and completely eliminates time wasted due to lingering office politics, or regular interruptions by colleagues. Ideas of tasks you could outsource to a VA a greater than you can think but I actually listed them in 10 groups. I wrote about the first two in more detail on my blog already and the remaining 8 will follow shortly.
The individual worker experiences many benefits from working online, in both financial savings and positive lifestyle changes. By way of example, replacing that often horribly long commute with more time to productively spend on tasks or extra time to enjoy with family, being able to work from almost any location with Internet access, reducing travel and clothing costs as well as improvements in well-being, all lead to higher productivity!
