by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jan 31, 2017 | Delegation, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Productivity, Small Business
“Delegate, but don’t abdicate.” “Delegating takes more time than doing it myself. ”
Delegating – or outsourcing if you are self-employed: yes, it’s difficult and yes, it is so worth your time to learn how to do it well. It is a skill, not something any one of us is innately good at, so I suggest you begin with low risk practice first.
What do you get in return?
- Attention to your bigger goals you’re wanting to spend time but just can’t seem to create.
- A team. Better, clearer communications.
- Accountability practice. And practice at leaning into difficult conversations when you need to have them.
With nearly 20 years of corporate experience, in addition to being a small business owner, I can confidently suggest the following exercise to begin your road to successful delegation and growth. Especially if you’ve never delegated before and are feeling a little apprehensive, this is a fascinating skill because of how much you learn about other people and yourself.
#1 Start Small. Low Risk. Get Some Practice.
Choose a low risk, small task and delegate or outsource it. I hired a company to work with me on one edition of my newsletter. Eventually, I outsourced my website and more because their work, flexibility and ability to hold me accountable worked well for me. Had the newsletter not been successful I could have returned to doing it myself.
Look at your “big goals” list. What do you not have time for that’s really pulling at you?
And then look at your day-to-day work: What project is: not getting done, needs skills you don’t have/aren’t great at, needs a partner to hold you accountable, is low risk (not financials) or is frustrating you and you’re stuck? There will be at least one, guaranteed.
Now back to the goals list: If you invested some time explaining what’s needed for your low risk project and if you could think of the delegating or outsourcing as an experiment, wouldn’t it be great to have time to work on that goal? What’s the risk? Keep it small enough that it’s hard for you not to do it.
#2 Invest Time.
Create time on your calendar to explain and educate the person who will be handling this for you. If you don’t meet and create time to explain and educate, delegation will fail and it won’t be the other person’s fault. You’ll have done it to yourself. Get it right on the calendar, at least one to educate and one short time to check in. More if needed.
Pay attention to how well you two work together. If you’re being heard. Are solutions and proactive suggestions made? Is understanding present? Ask the person to explain back to you what he/she thinks you want.
And rather than framing this as “asking for help,” do this instead. Since “help” implies you don’t know how to do the task, yet you likely you do know, think “leverage.” What you are doing is even smarter: you are building a team so you can leverage your skills and time as well as your team’s. And that gets you closer to your goals, whether it is to work fewer days a week, have more travel money or time or anything else important to you.
Leverage, not help. Completely different mindset and way of operating here.
#3 Expectations. Get Clear. 
Start by discussing and being super clear in your expectations of WHAT needs to get done.
The goal, the end game, the results. Not the HOW, but the WHAT. [And if you’re working with people who need to know the context or the WHY, give them that, too. Can’t hurt.]
If you have any preferences which add value to the project, mention them, but be prepared to let them go if they are not critical. Double checking quality is critical. The process or tool may not be so much.
Let go of HOW the task is done. That’s what you’re delegating.
If something comes back to you and it’s quite wrong …. first look at or ask about the expectations you think you set.
I did say: this is not simple.
#4 Set Limits.
Consider ahead of time what your limits are and communicate these.
Examples:
- Please don’t spend over ‘x’ amount.
- Let me know how much you get done in 1 hour & let’s go from there.
- It’s important to me that you feel comfortable holding me accountable. Here is what would be great to have … and not.
- Let’s try this one piece. Come back to me and let’s check that together so I’m sure I’ve been clear. And you’re on the right track. If so, we can get lots more done like those.
If you don’t educate on what’s a deal breaker, then when someone spends too much, that’s on you.
Delegate = Leverage.
Delegation is a muscle that needs an attentive workout. The first few times you try delegating may not be as perfect as you envisioned because this does take practice. You didn’t learn to drive, or program, or market in one try. You practiced and got better as you did.
Delegating and outsourcing allow you to do what you know are so incredibly good at. And the work you delegate or outsource? It allows another person to do what he or she is really awesome at, so you both contribute. How good is that?
Guest Author
Sue West
Certified Organizer Coach®
Productivity & ADHD Coach
Certified Professional Organizer®
In Chronic Disorganization
Connect with Sue
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Website & Blog: www.CoachSueWest.com
Phone: 603.554.1948
Email: Sue@OrganizeNH.com
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jan 12, 2017 | Entrepreneur, Executive Administration, Small Business, Time Management, Virtual Assistant
Greeting the day as an overwhelmed entrepreneur has become part of the norm for many first-time business owners. The hats we wear are numerous and can present unexpected challenges in our day-to-day operations. It can be suffocating trying to figure out where to turn or what to do next.
Becoming more productive and being able to free up more time and leveraging your existing time, is one of the most skills that can literally multiply your success. Tor Refsland
You are an executive who worked hard, paid your dues and now you are sitting in the seat of responsibility. With responsibility comes an increased need to manage your time effectively. You cannot spend hours of your time formatting documents, writing business letters, building forms, writing and responding to emails, and editing or proofreading marketing material. Your decision-making, client relationships, and management of the company’s fiscal responsibilities take precedence. Hiring someone full-time is just not in the books yet.
What can you do? Is there a simple solution to help you achieve more by doing less?
Delegating
The purpose of delegating is to enable you to focus on your core genius, the tasks and projects that ONLY you can do; the revenue generators.
If you are being busy with many of the back end, admin tasks, you not using your expertise to the best of your ability; thereby further impairing your business advancement and opportunities. You’re potentially hindering your own growth which is counterproductive to starting your business. Let go to grow.
Tracking Hours
How much valuable time is used for follow up emails, searching/scheduling social media posts, writing/editing content, travel planning, document reviews, calendar reminders, project management, or presentation prep, just to name a few?
Track your time for the rest of the week, including the project, time on task, distractions, task completion, new additions to your list, items that were dropped to a lower priority or simply forgotten and how you felt at the end. In your review, what tasks clearly represented your core genius? What tasks were a low value?
Infinite list of responsibilities
All of the above are just a few of the basic yet necessary components to your business operations. It can be exhausting and frustrating to manage all of these tasks on your own. Unless you’re a super hero, it’s nearly impossible to be all things, to all people, all of the time.
In his blog post “The Way To Measure Your Productivity As An Entrepreneur”, Dan Martell suggests you:
- Create 4 buckets of activities: Admin, Work, Mgmt, Strategy
- Measure each with a monetary value: $10, $100, $500, $5000
- Focus on moving your way up the value chain (working ON vs. IN)
Measure each activity for what it is, then tally up your time for the day to get your daily value creation score.
The goal of these activities is to nudge you to work ON your business, rather than IN it. Typically, the IN does not generate revenue but keeps you busy. Busy isn’t necessarily productive. Busy can be frittering time. You don’t have time to waste.
When you love what you do, you want to do more of it!
Delegating gives you the flexibility you need to keep the company momentum going. Unburden yourself of these time consuming, the low payoff tasks/projects that keep you from the core of your business.
Stop doing stuff that isn’t valuable. So much of what people do in attempting to be productive involves just trying to fit more low value tasks into the same amount of time. Being productive means accomplishing more with the same or less effort. Mark Shead, Productivity 501
ACTION STEP
What’s on your To Do list right now that you’re ready to outsource? Do it and discover for yourself why so many other entrepreneurs embrace the power of delegating. What do they know that you don’t?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Dec 20, 2016 | Delegation, Entrepreneur, Time Management, Virtual Assistant
Let’s get real about time management. Sure, scrolling through social media and completing daily to-dos are satisfying, but will they translate to success? Likely not! These activities are like sidekicks, important to keep the business chugging along, but they won’t be the superhero bringing in the major cash.
What is the best use of your time and expertise?
Your core genius: something you love to do, is effortless, creates a sense of joy and contentment, generates a fire within and time disappears. It could be coaching, writing, graphic design, speaking, leading, selling, training, motivating, marketing or whatever your passion is. When you are focused on your CG, you are alive, vibrant, and producing outcomes.
As an entrepreneur, when you can maximize your potential by focusing on your core genius, you not only follow your passion but can devote your time ON your business rather than IN it. You become more productive and efficient. While many daily business tasks require attention, it doesn’t necessarily have to be on your time. Delegating the lower return projects and tasks gives you back your time to build your business, develop strategy, nurture relationships, foster loyalty, seek partnerships, and focus on your bottom line.
Compare the individuals, the business owners, who dedicate their time to every task, every project, even those that they don’t like, don’t truly have time to do, or the ones that are more menial “time robbers.” These people are taken away from their core genius and focused on the back end, admin-type projects instead of building their companies and concentrating on income-generating projects.
“Most entrepreneurs spend less than 30% of their time focusing on their core genius and unique abilities. In fact, by the time they’ve launched a business, it often seems entrepreneurs are doing everything but the one thing they went into business for in the first place.” Jack Canfield
Everything we do is an investment of our time. When you choose to watch television or engage on Facebook that is an investment of your time. In many ways, time is more valuable than money, as you always have the opportunity to make more money, but you cannot recreate lost or wasted time. It is gone forever. If you think of time as a commodity and all of your actions/choices as an investment, it may change how you approach your daily activities.
Think about the return on your time invested. In a recent article by Anthony Iannarino, “Return On Time Invested,” he suggests measuring each activity, the time you spent, and the return. If there was no return on your time, then you must realize that that task or activity is not worth doing. A better use of your valuable time is to focus on those activities that produce a desired, profitable, and rewarding outcome.
Leveraging your time and effort is a fundamental strategy for success. There are only so many hours in the day that you can work and by only using your time, you can only accomplish so much. When you choose to utilize other people’s time via delegation, you intensify your productivity and efficiency to an extraordinary magnitude. It feels great to do more in less time.
- Eliminate unnecessary activities
- Prioritize so you focus your energy on those tasks that provide the highest rate of return
- Set long and short-term goals with action steps, motivating you and keeping you on target
- Learn how to effectively delegate
- Outsource non-core tasks/projects
Action Step:
- Identify the daily activities that are devouring your time by keeping a journal: logging activities, projects, and time spent
- Build a plan to delegate the time robbers that are taking you away from your CG
- Call Ace Concierge to discuss your delegation strategy and project timeline
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Aug 23, 2016 | Entrepreneur, Freelance Economy, Productivity, Small Business, Toolbox
If you want to talk about an explosion of proportions not seen since the Industrial Revolution, simply take a peek at the freelance economy.
Expansion of the freelance economy is growing at exponential rates evidenced by 53 million freelancers representing more than 33% of America’s labor force today. By the year 2020, this number is expected to grow by 50%. That is a significant amount of the workforce in a work-for-hire demographic poised to change business as we know it. While not all freelancers will be full-time independent contractors, they will be part of the fast gig group providing on-demand services from remote offices. These remote warriors may be found behind a desk, at a coffee shop, in a tree top or at the beach because the location simply doesn’t matter. The lifestyle does. Where else can you choose to wear pajamas, sweat pants or a power suit?
The draw here is that freelancers have the opportunity to maintain independence, generate income and enjoy a better work-life balance – all from the comfort of their own “office”. I’ve been in the business since 2002 and have never looked back.
Who Benefits from the Freelance Economy?
The rise of a freelance nation provides a multitude of lifestyle benefits, but it isn’t just advantageous for the worker. The employer and other business owners who “hire” the qualified contractors REDUCE overhead and expenses by NOT paying for benefits, office space, supplies, health/workers insurance, paid vacation/sick time, or training. It is an excellent opportunity to source high-level expertise, leverage costs, and hire for work on a project basis. Since most freelancers work on an hourly or fixed-rate billing system, employers eliminate the need to carry full-time employees through non-project time slots.
The real-time freelance statistics speak for themselves – a way of life has emerged that is changing the landscape of how business gets done.
Hiring independent professionals, virtual assistants included, of course, offers employers a workforce with an increased knowledge base, deep experience, and refined skill sets. Much like a veritable shopping cart full of tools, the mobile assets available and varied technological advances have set the stage for enhanced productivity without the confines of an office. Anyone can provide needed services without being hindered by geographical boundaries or by a lack of equipment. It’s pretty incredible to think about how far we’ve advanced over the last few decades, no longer being tethered to an office and a time clock.
The Freelance Economy: Business Tools for Success
Being fortunate to work remotely does require you to learn or become familiar with a variety of tools, platforms, and apps to maintain your autonomy and earn a living. It may seem like a challenge at first, but without them, business as usual can be incredibly difficult. I for one, am not ready to trade in my mobility for a desk because the lifestyle win over-rides the investment in personal development.
Let’s jump into some of the key tools that have contributed to my success, connected me with remote organizations, and given me the freedom I crave.
Project Management (PM): Operating a business takes dedication and organization. As a freelancer, you are building your personal business and the tools are the face of your brand.
Redbooth is my go-to program for PM. It streamlines all communications, tasks, projects, accountability, files, and timelines. Here’s an overview of their features. It is very user-friendly and simple to set up. Give it a try. I was NOT partial to Basecamp or Trello.
Communications: In my experience, I find it best to have some fallbacks to bring to the table, but more importantly, what technology is your client most comfortable using? Additional features of some of the tools below include secure SSL encryption, file transfers, group and private chats, easy screen sharing, and sync’d mobile capabilities.
I don’t have a preferred platform but I use Slack, Zoom, and of course good old-fashioned text, email, and phone.
Organization: Get your ducks in a row or you will be shaking those tail feathers pretty quickly. Showing the client how organized you are will build confidence and trust.
In addition to using Redbooth, I also like to employ the good graces of Google Drive and Dropbox for cloud storage and sharing documents with clients. Another extremely helpful tip (which came from a client) is to create Chrome user profiles with individual tabs and bookmarks. I cannot say enough about this Chrome feature. The separate profiles enable me to have each clients’ social accounts, Chrome extensions, industry-specific bookmarks, and profiles in their own browser space. This is one of my all time organizational favorites.
This last tool, If This Than That, is a free service of 347 channels with “recipes” to help optimize your business, your life, and your content. You create triggers “if this” happens “than that”, the action, pushes the data to your desired channel. For example, you can create recipes to:
- Push RSS feeds to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Buffer
- Receive a text message, email or phone call when a particular hashtag is posted
- Have Facebook or Instagram images sent to Dropbox
- Receive a text message if there is a forecast for rain
- Star a Gmail and have it delivered to Evernote
Being organized is a key tune-up for your productivity. If you are willy-nilly about filing, social media strategy, scheduling, or daily business operations, you waste valuable time and energy and you risk appearing unprofessional. Make it a habit to not only create your systems and processes but to use them consistently.
Every digital hero drives their business with a variety of tested tools to help ensure their entrepreneurial success and support of your business. I reached out to some well-respected pros in my network to help give you a broader scope of what they use, how and why.
Cori Ramos, of Not Now Mom’s Busy, a multi-niche blog for women who wants to make money from home, blog like a boss and achieve work-life balance, uses three main tools on a daily basis: Hootsuite, Microsoft Outlook and Dropbox.
I’ve been using Hootsuite Pro for about three years now and I love it. I can access all my social media pages and I get suggested content to share with followers. Not only that but we can schedule posts in advance. This comes in handy when you want to promote your business or product. Sometimes I get caught up in other daily tasks that I forget to promote my blog and product. Now I take time one day (usually on Sunday) out of the week to schedule the days/times I want to promote my blog or eBook.
What can I say about Microsoft Outlook. I’ve had a love affair with it since 2000. Besides accessing my email, I use the calendar religiously to keep up with appointments and deadlines. And I can access other email accounts like Gmail on there as well.
I love the easy access I get with Dropbox. Since I’m on a laptop, desktop and mobile, Dropbox allows me to access files, docs and images from all three places.
And what’s even better is I can access these tools on my mobile phone. So even when I’m out and about, I can still receive emails, check my social media pages and access any document I need.
Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, Chief Career Writer, Master Resume Writer & Storyteller of CareerTrend.net shares her 3 most favorite tools/program.
1. Desktop Task Timer: A free download that I use on my MacBook that I use daily to track ‘everything I do!
It’s simple, really. A tiny little tool in the corner of my screen where I track client projects, administrative, operational – including sales conversations – and other initiatives every single day, down to the minute.
This gives me a sense of how much of my energy is going to which ‘tasks.’ It also helps me to focus in. For example, if I am writing, and I want to ensure at least XX amount of hours on a certain project for the day – or for the week – I refer to this tool. I can also download results into Excel to calculate time spent over a period of months/year or more and use this for future planning.
2. Droid Turbo with Google/Gmail Interface. It allows me to keep in touch on-the-go without having my MacBook open or even with me (for shorter trips). I can email, review Word documents (where most of my projects are housed), check in on social media and so forth.
3. Evernote. I track blog post and other content development ideas here, as well as a plethora of other random ideas and insights and links, organizing them by topic.
Michael Trow, President of Alderbest Solutions shares his insight, stating:
Although I run a business offering services related to technology, I’m not biased when I say that I don’t know how people can run businesses without embracing the powerful, and affordable, technology at our disposal today. What’s even more important is that technology is becoming interoperable, meaning that one tool is likely to be able to integrate with another providing many benefits to you, and the people associated to your business.
We wouldn’t be able to run on a daily basis without:
- A true Customer Relationship Management solution (Salesforce, Zoho CRM, Microsoft Dynamics etc.)
- A Landing Page Solution (Optimize Press, Lead Pages etc)
- An Email Marketing Service (MailChimp, Constant Contact, Zoho Campaigns)
- An Invoice/Accounting Solution (Zoho Books, QuickBooks, FreshBooks etc.)
- An Online Meeting Tool (Join.me, UberConference etc.)
We use Landing Pages to promote our content pieces, push the data of the people that ‘download’ to our Email Marketing Service which sends a series of automated emails and the email solution simultaneously pushes the data through to our CRM solution so that the prospect and opportunity can be managed from a sales perspective. For all sales we use the Account Solution to manage the Invoice and Payments.
The two biggest benefits of an ecosystem like this are that 1) we have visibility of all customer interactions and actions in one place (the CRM) 2) most actions are automated saving time and meaning we can manually interact with more people on daily basis.
John Lusher, President of John Lusher Consulting and is Team Member and Partner in The Social Buzz Lab says:
One of the main reasons I made the decision to go into business for myself was the freedom and flexibility to work how I wanted, and at the location that worked for me and my lifestyle. Working in marketing consulting and social media management has expanded the ability to accomplish this in my home office, while on the road or even in the middle of the ocean during a vacation cruise.
Some of my favorite tools include tools that help me to manage my schedule, team workflow and managing content distribution and tracking for my own social platforms as well as those for my clients.
Buffer provides a platform to curate and schedule content for multiple social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, Pinterest and Instagram. Buffer also provides the ability to bulk schedule posts as well as provides analytics on the performance of the posts on your social platforms.
Sprout Social offers the ability to schedule content as well as a streamlined method to replying to Tweets and Facebook comments or messages. For my use, Sprout Social is one of the best tools that provides valuable insights on the performance of my content and various social networks.
Google Drive is key for working with multiple team members, especially if those colleagues are working in various geographic locations. With Google Drive we can share photos, files and work on documents together while reviewing with a client or during a planning call.
Dropbox For my business, I use Dropbox to store, share and transfer large files such as videos or photos, but it can also be used to share documents or other types of content. The ease of sharing a single file, folder or my entire Dropbox Drive with someone makes it a key asset in working remotely.
Flipboard is a news gathering content app that provides the ability to follow content from multiple users and content publishers such as magazines or new sites while also providing an avenue to publish client’s content.
Each of these tools provide free versions and paid versions, based on the number of social networks, users or features that you require. While these tools are instrumental to my business, I encourage you to try a variety of tools to see which ones work best for you or your clients.
Ted Rubin, Social Marketing Strategist, Keynote Speaker, Brand Evangelist and Acting CMO of Brand Innovator, Return On Relationships (#RonR) sums it up quite succinctly because it isn’t simply the what you use to perform your job. It’s the person, the impassioned entrepreneur, behind the tools that brings your business to life.
My Most Important Social Media Tools…
1 – My personality
2 – My passion
and…
3 – My obsessiveness with being connected
Each of these colleagues and members of the freelance economy exploit the accessibility of the latest mobile tools and technological advances to effectively operate their business and deliver their expertise to your door.
Where else can you find like-minded driven professionals to support your dream while at the same time, reducing your overall costs?
If you’re still yearning for more freelance tips and tools, check out the list below. You’re sure to find some valuable resources to help support your business, gain some new knowledge and better assist your clients. Self-education keeps you ahead of the curve.
Over to you: What tools or services help make you successful and support your business operations? Please post in the comment section below.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Oct 14, 2015 | Entrepreneur, Organization, Small Business, Toolbox
Picture this quintessential bit of information that has been picking at your brain and eating you up inside, you remember – someone on a beach with a digital tool, getting their work done while enjoying their family.
Drives you crazy, doesn’t it?
The cool breeze, the aqua green water, the white sand and some cheeky entrepreneur who is making it work! You stop and wonder; “How does she do it?”
Well, working remotely requires Systems, Tools and Technology. It’s not only possible to take a vacation, it’s doable, and within this article are the three things you need to know to make it work.
First, let’s identify a few fears here:
“No way. There’s too much to do and only I can do it.”
“My business would fall apart if I took time off.”
“Vacation? Only if I can have Wi-Fi.”
Put on your grown-up shoes and let’s roll up our sleeves and get you out of your office.
Systems:
Developing your daily operational structures ensures consistency, ease of use, and process management for yourself and those you bring on to your team as you grow. They become your auto-pilot during your absence.
Systems are the rules, policies, and procedures that your team follows and can consistently repeat as your company grows. They can be:
- Customer Support
- Inventory
- Marketing
- Accounting
- Human Resources
- Social Media
- Feedback
- On-boarding
- Meeting Procedures
- Customer Relations
While I admit, it isn’t always easy to walk away or tune out even for a short time, it is possible and you have earned it. Technology has given us 24/7 connectedness and the necessary tools to be able to step away. So, if you can marry your systems AND your tools, with your team, you can hide on an island or at least celebrate some downtime without as much guilt or worry.
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. – Jim Rohn
I may not always practice what I preach, but I do operate with systems, a team, and automation tools, enabling me to work from anywhere. On a 2015, 2 week trip, I visited 11 states, mountain biked in at least 7, visited majestic mountains dividing these great states, toured the longest cave system in the world and saw a part of the country that instills a real sense of America, history and the people who fought to establish our great nation.
Tools & Technology:
All of this travel was made possible BECAUSE I have systems, processes, tools, and impeccable organizational skills. I love what I do and do what I love. It’s passion, not work.
The Secret Sauce: Everyone has a few tips and tricks to share – start talking in your community, ask a VA or check with other entrepreneurs who seem to be ‘always on’.
TIP:
I think one of the best time-savers I used was shared via a client. Managing client Gmail accounts can be a hassle if you have to constantly sign in and out of Chrome. The secret sauce is that you can create different user-profiles and never have to login but just keep their Chrome account in your icon tray. I currently have 8 active Chrome browsers in my icon tray for email management, calendaring, social media, and other various client specific projects.
Along with creating the individual user profiles, I also have each client’s daily core programs and most-used apps saved in their own bookmark toolbar. I truly embrace organization and structure; maintaining files and systems for everything! This process not only saves me from needing to keep 10+ tabs open at all times but streamlines each associated platform, tool, page, or required details to operate behind the scenes for each client.
Over the years I have fine-tuned skills, tricks and techniques, as we all do. It is a growth process and so vital for your business as well. I love the tip above. I am able to save/sync client apps, bookmarks, extensions, logins, favorite sites, etc. When a client shares their profiles with me, it provides me access to all of their data and company information. I do recommend the 2-step verification as well. Security is a must for every business.
TIP:
In order to manage all of the projects and clients, my favorite project management tool is Redbooth (formerly Teambox). I feel it is THE tool to use as it is very user friendly, streamlines communications, keeps everything in one central location and provides the opportunity to upload tasks, assign deadlines and a “taskmaster”, engage in real-time communication, share files, have conversations(similar to emails) and maintain editable notes (like Google Docs). Every time there is a project activity, Redbooth sends an email notification with the details. From here, you can reply directly from your email, or you can log in to your account. The dashboard interface is straightforward, displaying the key tools you use every day to effectively manage your projects and time.
Redbooth is very robust and full-featured as they have continued to improve and enhance their offerings to make it the “go-to” app for project management. You can also schedule HD live meetings and have them immediately added to your calendar with the call details. Once your meeting is started, you can also screen share or record the meeting for future reference or for team members that weren’t able to attend.
Other Redbooth benefits:
Reporting for each workspace, calendar, tasks and users
Mobile Apps for IOS and Android
Integration with: Google Drive, SharePoint, Evernote, Office 365, Dropbox, Outlook, Gmail, MS Project
TIP:
In keeping with time management, an absolute must in the day and life of a Virtual Assistant, is time tracking. While there are so many options, some more techie than others, I prefer 2 KISS basics. This FREE stopwatch and timer and a spreadsheet. I keep this handy little tool saved in my personal browser as well as each client bookmark bar enabling me to stop, start and track the time spent on all tasks and projects. Honoring the simple and frankly, the unsophisticated tool is a time saver in and of itself. I don’t need some fancy apparatus with bells and whistles. I need accuracy and accountability. There’s a time and a place for upgraded technology.
Here is the deal, find the right resources you need to make your vacation or working remotely actually work.
Do your OWN research and find what works best for you, your business and your method of working.
I don’t believe there is one set tool, system or process that solves issues for the masses.
We learn and operate in so many different ways, left brain, right brain, hands-on, visual, and so on, that it makes strategic sense to implement your chosen tool not simply because someone tells you to, but because it works for YOU. Test and retest until you it all comes together according to your needs and preferences. Soon you too can travel with your office right in your lap as I do, but just be sure that you’ve got a designated driver.
You might even want to hire a VA to keep track of it all for you!
Over to you: please share your tips for working remotely and having a life.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Aug 25, 2015 | Delegation, Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
With the various new forms of technology, there have never been more ways to enrich your life as an entrepreneur, reach your target audience and grow your business. The only problem is, how can you manage everything? Software, apps and other tools might help, but the overwhelming list of tasks can be excessively time consuming if you are a solopreneur.
A solution that is exceptionally effective is to outsource your administrative and back end tasks. Some business owners balk at the idea, wondering if they will have enough resources and comfort level to make it feasible. However, statistics compiled over the last decade have revealed a growing trend, with over 43% of companies now using outsourcing to help successfully manage their business operations. It makes perfect sense, since the more power we have behind us; the more work we are capable of doing. You can achieve more by doing less.
If you are new to the outsourcing concept, these 5 high level steps can help you streamline this process and get the ball rolling to free up your time and your mind.
- DETERMINE WHAT YOU CAN OUTSOURCE
Typically, at Ace Concierge, LLC we assess the type of tasks associated with your business functions and daily management. They might fall under two categories: highly repetitive tasks, such as data entry, social media management and blogging; or more specialized knowledge, such as accounts payable or web design. You may also have your own list according to your industry and niche in addition to the day to day necessities of processes and procedures. Once we have determined a list of tasks you’d like to outsource, we can determine the skill level needed and begin to narrow down your options.
- WEIGH THE COST VS BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING
Begin with determining your own time value and where you should prioritize your efforts. If you tend to bury yourself in the daily minutia, for example, social media, editing, proofing, or curating content, it is here you need to ask yourself if this is the best value of your time? Is this your expertise, why you started your business? More often than not, it doesn’t represent your core genius, won’t provide an immediate return and isn’t a fundamental function of your company. While these tasks and activities represent daily necessities of an online presence, they don’t embody the crux of your knowledge and capabilities.
As an entrepreneur, your time needs to be protected, leveraged and highly valued. Outsourcing maintains these properties keeping you highly effective and focused on your business, growth, development and other primary structures of operations. Delegating allows you to forgo other things you would pay an actual employee, such as insurance, training, extra office space, supplies, and benefits. Instead, you are only paying for the project time which is a tremendous cost savings.
- DECIDING WHO TO OUTSOURCE TO
One of the most popular questions we get asked is, “Who should we use? How do we know they’ll do a good job?” As the old saying goes, “You get what you pay for.” There are many opportunities to find cheap labor from developing countries, but the difference in hours, language barriers and skills can sometimes pose a problem. These are options you must consider, especially if you are presenting their work to your own clients.
Consider partnering with another entrepreneurial like-minded individual as they will understand what it takes to own and operate a successful, viable company. If you only choose someone based upon price, a “one-off task master” then that is all you will receive. Point A to Point B with nothing in between. Think in terms of a virtual business partner who has your best interests at heart. Someone who invests in you, your time and your company to help you achieve your goals.
- CREATE A PLAN AND EXPECTATIONS
One mistake we frequently hear from business owners is frustration when a project is delivered and it’s not what was expected, it wasn’t on time, or it was not successfully executed. Clearly plan and outline for accountability and outcomes, keeping all lines of communication open. We try to stress the importance of a strategy that all agree upon to ensure that all needs and requirements are met or exceeded. It is difficult enough to give up what you have always done so it’s vital to create a solid foundation with dialog, expectations and feedback.
- RELINQUISH CONTROL
The hardest step business owners tend to have is relinquishing control and letting the person or business you’ve hired do their job. Remember, you’re outsourcing for a reason. You need to focus your time and energy on other more important, high payoff activities relative to your business. It doesn’t make sense to outsource a project or task and manage it from afar. If that’s the case, you should save your money and do it yourself!
Assigning the control to someone else can be nerve racking, especially if you’ve been involved in every aspect of the business from the start. As Ace Concierge, LLC has continued to practice outsourcing ourselves, as well as accomplishing administrative tasks and business management operations on behalf of our own clients, we’ve seen an increase both in productivity and the efficiency with which we can grow our businesses.
Leveraging time, expertise and a team is a growth mentality. It’s worked for us, and we’d love to show you how it can work for you!
