by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Nov 12, 2013 | Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
When you are looking for a vested partner, your goal should be someone with an entrepreneurial mindset who understands what it takes to not only get up and running, but who knows how to thrive in business. While you can certainly choose an offshore call center to help manage day to day tasks, you will be missing out on the bigger part of your business success, a trusted like-minded entrepreneur.
“Which do you think will build a stronger company over time? A technically competent team of people who share no collective set of motivations, styles or goals – or – a technically competent team of people who are united by a clearly articulated set of values and expectations the CEO has both described to them and tested for during the interview process? It’s not a trick question.” Hunter Walk
Finding the right fit goes beyond technical skills or a likeable personality. It takes a certain kind of individual to start and operate a company. A degree or a previous title doesn’t make you an entrepreneur. It also isn’t about someone who wants to turn a hobby into a 9-5 job or someone who only wants to cut a paycheck. There is more to it than that.
Owning and operating your own business requires a commitment to 24/7/365 days a year. It isn’t something you just dabble in “willy nilly.” In the beginning you may be wearing all of the hats, living and breathing every facet of the business, even in your sleep. There is no rest. No downtime.
The Entrepreneur:
- Methodical
- Courageous
- Strong time management and planning
- Organized
- Productive
- Strategic
- Critical thinker
- Insightful
- Intuitive
- Communicator
- Enthusiastic
- Problem solver
- Overly committed
- Driven
- Innovative
- Ability to pivot
- Open to change
- Ready for failure
- Readiness to begin again
These are innate qualities that you will never learn in business school.
It is what is in your head. What lives in your heart. How you survive and thrive in life.
Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding says: “To be perfectly blunt, people with hard skills are a dime a dozen. A high-school kid can probably learn most of the hard skills that would be required to do just about any job, but it’s doubtful that he or she would have the emotional maturity and people skills to make it in a Fortune 200 company.”
In the search for your virtual assistant, think about the match that is most important to you. What do you value most?
You are secure on who YOU are as well as the value and expertise you bring to your clients and the marketplace. Don’t you want and need the same type of support from your team? Someone who fully understands your needs, culture and business?
“Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune.” Jim Rohn
Who is the best fit for your company? When interviewing your prospective virtual assistants, due diligence is a necessity. Not just a quick SKYPE interaction.
- Learn about them. Why did they get into the business? Here’s my story.
- What struggles have they faced and how did they overcome them.
- What are their goals?
- Speak with their past and current clients.
- Read their online testimonials.
- Google them: what social media platforms do they use? Is their branding consistent? What types of posts do they write? Is their blog up to date?
- What personality traits present most strongly in their online communications?
- Do you feel that they are transparent and open?
Find the real treasure, the driven entrepreneurial virtual assistant who is truly devoted to your dreams of success.
Look for a partner, not an automated task doer.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Nov 7, 2013 | Small Business, Social Media
Image credit: http://www.mikemccready.ca
Your social media efforts have probably gone through several evolutions since you first began developing your online presence. At the onset, you may have jumped in with both feet while discovering the ins and outs and proper social media etiquette. It was and still is a learning process. The rules change, people maintain different ideas and policies but all the while the main premise still remains, it is about nurturing and growing relationships. It isn’t all that much of a mystery. Unmask your potential, share remarkable content, be authentic and build your brand.
“Tweet valuable content and don’t get caught up in numbers…get caught up in building great relationships!” Lisa Malcom, The Social Suite
In the midst of all of this, is the quest to be on top, showcasing your talents, your knowledge, and business acumen. We all want to be heard, seen and have a voice. What I have noticed over the years is the tremendous increase in the amount of noise and sometimes an unfortunate decrease in engagement. Building your relationships, instilling loyalty and trust within your community is at times forgotten with the push of content and URLs or the blind retweets only because you trust the source.
Proving you’re a reliable thought leader is significant, however willy nilly digital diarrhea can be overkill. Info excess is crushing – our brains are on overdrive attempting to filter all of the data thrown at us and we miss out on personal relationships during the digestion process.
“Activate your fans, don’t just collect them like baseball cards.” Jay Baer
- Mix up your content
- Don’t just post links
- Share posts of your followers and networks
- Add in some inspirational quotes
- Use dynamic images
- Spark the conversation
- Listen, truly listen
- Visit the profiles and websites of your network
- Take a REAL interest because you care
- Learn about your followers and fans
- Give credit where credit is do
- Share more than you promote
BEFORE you retweet, actually read the article.
If you care enough to share it, you should know what you are sharing with your trusting audience. Yes, it’s kind and generous to give back, but blindly posting for the sheer sake of it is almost meaningless. Does the content resonate with you? Spark any thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? What was the catalyst for sharing??
Invest the time and energy to know what you are reposting. Wouldn’t you like it if people actually read your content before they did the same? Speaking from personal experience, after having thanked someone for an RT, I have also asked a question about the post. Some respond and others don’t. Those that don’t could fit into one of 2 categories, they aren’t all that social in social media or they didn’t read the post and didn’t care to go back to it when I posed the question. Of course, there is always the chance that didn’t see my inquisitive tweet??
“You can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings within them.” Pam Moore
Take an active role WITH your online universe, getting to know and engage with your followers. You never know who you will meet or where the road may lead. It is a fascinating world when you invest the time and passion to mindfully participate.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Nov 5, 2013 | Entrepreneur, Productivity, Time Management
image credit: spokesman.com
Time management is always a hot topic as we seem to think we have so little time to effectively manage our days and have some semblance of work life balance. You too want to get more things accomplished while the clock keeps ticking and more tasks seem to pile up.
What can you do? Get a handle on your time, your interruptions and your distractions. Thanks to technology and the digital world, we are always connected and being bombarded with data overload. Crush the chaos. It can take all of the discipline you can muster to tune out the influx of information coming at you. Time can be an elusive mystery when you are in a constant struggle to find more of it, so it is up to you to invest in your time, in your life, in your business. The best thing you can do is learn to manage yourself to better manage your time. “Choice management.”
We are repeatedly bombarded by data overload via our push notifications, social media notices, text messages, phone calls, e-mails, Skype chats and news alerts on a daily basis. It is marvelous to always be connected, in touch and just a mere keystroke away. You are never alone and continuously up to date in both your personal and professional life. But there is a hitch and that is the negative impact it has on our concentration and stress levels. It hurts our brains!!
As a technologically in-tune society, we must learn to filter the urgency of our incoming communications in order to remain devoted to the tasks at hand. The constant interruptions have a pronounced impact on our productivity and efficiency level, never mind time management. If we continue to allow outside distractions to compete for our time and focus, we are unable to give our absolute attention to our present moment and activities. Interruptions because of too much data in the workplace costs US businesses $650 billion a year!
Computerworld reports that we are now living in a world of “interruption technology.”
In a 2012 study by The University of California, Irvine and the US Army, it was found that frequent email checkers were less productive, less focused and more stressed. On average, these types of email users averaged 37 switched windows per hour compared to a non-email checkers who only switched 18 times per hour. The second group of workers engaged more deeply with teammates, were focused on their tasks, increased their productivity and were less stressed.
Limit Distractions
- Schedule time on your calendar to tune out and turn off
- Let others know you are “off limits” during certain working hours
- Close the door or put on ear buds
- Silence your Smartphone
- Just say NO to social media! (Facebook and Twitter updates are always accessible).
- Shutdown everything that notifies you of an alert, sound, or other announcement (your e-mail will still be waiting for you).
- COMMIT to your decision to focus and jump in with gusto
- Once your project is completed, come up for air, stretch, respond to voicemails, text messages and other communications.
- Grab an energy snack to refuel for your next session
- Hide your tech gadgets
Remember, being offline is an industrious act toward completing your projects, achieving your goals and remaining on task. You will see a considerable increase in your productivity as you continue to shield yourself from outside disruptions and digital noise or as Stewart Baines says: “infobesity.”
Turning off isn’t just for the business world. We are electronically tethered 24/7 and this crosses into our personal boundaries. It becomes too much when we allow technology to consume our time and energy away from the present moment, sacrificing the things that truly matter. In a consumer survey last year, Qualcomm found that 37% of people use their phones while attending a party, 36% do so while eating at a restaurant and 35% use their phones while playing with their children.
Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply. Thich Nhat Hanh
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Oct 29, 2013 | Leadership, Life Thoughts
Many times in life things goes awry, causing you to lose something of value or assumed potential opportunity. You may at first experience sadness, anger, want to retaliate, feel resentment and want to otherwise lash out or bash the person or situation.
Take a step back.
Breathe.
Review the circumstances. Reflect on the situation as a whole.
- Did it always resonate and serve you?
- Did it bring you contentment and joy?
- What daily thoughts ran through your mind during general interactions?
- Were you satisfied or did you have lingering questions?
- What were your contributions to the scenario?
- Was it all that you had hoped it would be?
Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful. Margaret J. Wheatley
If much of the discourse surrounding the events did not support your thinking, values, mission or ideals, then let it go.
The lessons may seem hidden at first, but there is always an opportunity for internal growth and a time for you to spread your own wings.
Take flight!!
Is it really a lost opportunity or just a motivator for change?
If you can, ask for feedback. It is another tool to help you grow and better perform the next time. What can you revise? Is there something in your thought processes and actions that require a little more fine-tuning?
Find your wrench and start tweaking.
Instigating change is an adventure as you are able to discover more about yourself, your company and how you relate to others. Don’t take the fall as something completely personal, especially if there were signs or signals that you just weren’t sure about. It may have nothing to really do with you at all. It could be their misconceptions or misinterpretations or lack of communication that was the impetus for the dissolution. There are always three sides to a story, yours, theirs and what is found in the middle, holding more facts than miscommunications or unheard words. Some things just aren’t meant to be and you are given signs to interpret and set in motion.
When you lose a contract, a client or even a friend, it seems like a kick in the pants, but what can you learn from it? Each and every “failure” is about improvement. Empower yourself to step up and mull over the whole situation, the entire experience. The past time invested doesn’t matter – it is the journey to enlightenment and change that creates the force within you to better yourself.
Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging. Joseph Campbell
The more you are able to truly understand the internal workings of what transpired, you will appreciate the opportunity to flourish from this mishap. Even more so if you were apprehensive about the success in the first place. Follow your intuition as your gut seems to speak more loudly than your heart or your brain matter.
Celebrate the change.
The dynamics are just beginning.
It isn’t a missed opportunity at all!
It is an open door to greater abundance when you are able to let go of what no longer serves you.
Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing. H. Stanley Judd
Author: Brian Tracy
What changes will YOU make?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Oct 27, 2013 | Communication, Small Business
Communication is an essential human need as well as a right in order to exchange ideas, thoughts, opinions and meanings. It is the foundation for all types of relationships, whether professional or personal. It is a major player in our active lives, social activities and business networks.
Your voice needs to be heard and understood from a place of safety and consideration. Effective communication builds trust and creates an environment conducive to greater success and prosperity.
“Don`t communicate to be understood; rather, communicate so as not to be misunderstood.” Dr John Lund.
How and what you communicate will not only set the tone for your associations but afford you the opportunity to either nurture or hinder the growth. Both your verbal AND non-verbal sentiments clearly express your perspective. Many times what isn’t said speaks volumes because your “actions speak louder than words,” and if the two don’t match, your message screams indifference.
“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” Peter Drucker
Everyone has separate ideas or feelings about the depth of communications during the initial building phase, but unquestionably, openness, honesty and accountability should be at the bottom of the pyramid as your cement.
Unless you begin building from a place of strength with direct communication, you can bet that confusion or misinterpretations will take hold, potentially collapsing your architecture. Structuring your beams should be so simple: just common everyday courtesies out of respect, honor and value for another human being.
Contribute what you expect in return and you will reap the rewards of a successful partnership. Honest communications begin with you.
“Communication – the human connection – is the key to personal and career success.” Paul J. Meyer
Active listening is significant component of communications. If you are only listening to reply, then you aren’t hearing the other party. If you aren’t truly mindful and present at all, then you aren’t hearing the other party.
- Listen and hear what is being said.
- Understand their viewpoints.
- Put yourself in their shoes and think about what they are expressing and take a few minutes before you respond.
- Allow the speaker to maintain an uninterrupted voice.
- Do not communicate from a place of anger. Whether you are in person or attempting to respond through technology, step back, breathe and let the emotions slide until you are more centered.
Create deeper connections: avoid potential conflicts and frustration with clear communication, active listening, compassion and understanding. If you are to create long-lasting partnerships, avoid the common pitfalls of closed lips, closed minds and deaf ears.
“It’s not just hearing the words that are being said but also understanding and connecting with what the person is saying.” Syed Balkhi
Image credit: nitpickersnook.com
