by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Apr 8, 2014 | Entrepreneur, Productivity, Small Business, Social Media, Virtual Assistant
It’s me! I’m not talking about Siri or Google Now. I’m real. I’m live. Not some plug and play doll, but a real human being, and educated executive with a vested interest in YOUR business success.
A Virtual Assistant is similar to an in-house team member but we help you manage your daily business operations and tasks from our office. We give your back your time to focus ON your business rather than IN it. All of the back end daily administrative and social media management can be a real time suck, which takes you away from your core business acumen. Your job is to run your business and not get bogged down and buried by routine tasks and lengthy To Do lists.
The Bonus of a Virtual Assistant Partnership?
You don’t have to pay for additional overhead, office space, training, insurances, vacation time, taxes, supplies, or furniture.
You only invest for the time spent working on your projects.
As a Virtual Assistant, I outsource as well, helping to increase my productivity, business development and efficiency. If I want to continue to scale my company, I know I can’t go it alone.
M. Shannon Hernandez of The Writing Whisperer,
“I knew that in order to grow my business, the way I envisioned from the very beginning, I needed a support team from the get go. When I am speaking with new business owners, or ones that can’t seem to find the time to get everything done, the very first piece of advice I offer is to partner with a virtual assistant. And once you do, you should embrace this person and her unique skill sets and treat her like a key player in your business.”
After Michael Hyatt left the role of CEO of Thomas Nelson, he rejoiced in the freedom of being his own boss with no more office politics and he was able to follow his passion. We all know that feeling. But soon enough,
“I was spending the bulk of my time responding to email, managing my calendar, booking my own travel, and handling the hundreds of details that go with running a small business. This went on for about three months. I felt like I was drowning. I was running out of hours—and energy. I had to do something.”
Michael created a team of Virtual Assistants!
“None of them work full-time for me. None of them are employees. Together they have enabled me to create a debt-free, highly-profitable, rapidly-growing business. I simply could not have done this without the use of virtual assistants.”
Managing your business and your online presence takes effort, hours, consistency and dedication. You know it is a 24/7/365 day a year journey. Not something part-time. Not a hobby. It is your passion to create and grow a thriving company. Can you do it ALL yourself without sacrificing quality and effectiveness?
“I believe every entrepreneur should be utilizing the sheer power of hiring and working with virtual staff. Back in 2010 when I made the escape from my office, I was doing it for my personal reasons. However, since then I’ve realized that my virtual team has helped our company to grow in not only an efficient way, but also in a much faster manner.” Chris Ducker.
What Can You Outsource to a Virtual Assistant?
The list is limitless!! Here’s a few ideas.
- Content research and curation
- Blog post creation
- Editing/proofing of blog posts, websites, documents
- Blog commenting
- Ghost writing
- Social media management
- Social bookmarking
- Directory submission
- Article marketing
- Web design
- Landing page design and set up
- Bookkeeping
- Calendaring
- Appointment scheduling
- Email management
- E-newsletters
- Customer follow up
Outsource Anything That
- Doesn’t directly generate revenue
- Isn’t your core genius
- Represents administrative tasks
- You don’t like to do
- You don’t want to do
- Is too tedious
- Takes up too much time
- Provides a low payoff
“The whole transition from working in the business to working on the business means letting go of what you’re comfortable doing. You always need to be thinking big and challenging yourself.” Mary Jo Gorman.
Tips to Working with a Virtual Assistant
After you have chosen your vested virtual partner be ready to experience outstanding results.
- Understand your daily processes and business operations
- Be well aware of your core genius and high payoff activities
- Clearly outline your goals
- Know what you want to outsource: for example, content curation, proofing/editing/uploading of blogs, email and calendar management, social media and project management
- Outsource one offs, projects, administrative tasks and daily business operations
- Establish your workflow
- Define specifics, desired outcomes, expectations and deadlines
- Prepare documents to support the processes you use to complete tasks. You may also discover that your VA has some other efficient tools and ideas as well. Be open for discussions
- Accountability and communications are a must for success and satisfaction
- Provide valued, honest feedback
- Trust the VA you have chosen – avoid the need to micromanage
- Expect to participate in monthly strategy calls to brainstorm, share ideas and talk about your business
- If they are to interact with your clients or vendors, create an email address for them at your domain
- Recognize that you are part of a TEAM, investing in your partnership and business
- Every month, review what is working and what isn’t. Consider outsourcing additional operations management or projects while you may decide to pull back others
- Continue to foster and nurture your relationship just like you would with an in-house staff member
Does this all sound enticing?
Do you ever wonder what or how your competition grows their business? If you are ready to scale and spend more time focused on your business core, then the time is NOW to think about partnering with a Virtual Assistant.
Reach out to Ace via our contact page and let’s get the discussions going.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Mar 18, 2014 | Customer Service, Entrepreneur
Jane Wurwand, Founder, Owner of Dermalogica and The International Dermal Institute clearly understands the inherent value in the ability to scale your business via delegation. This mindset is a key driver for success. Delegating enables you to grow your organization, so you can focus on your core company objectives, removing you from the daily back end details which eat up your valuable time and actual productivity.
I am speaking as the Founder of my own company and I know just how challenging it can be to let go and delegate. Only by letting go of certain details and delegating them to fellow team members to handle that the company had the opportunity to truly grow. If I had clung on to the day-to-day details, or if I was a micro-manager, would my company be the success that it is today?
As a business grows, the founding visionaries need to let go of the details. This seems like a contradiction, and I really get it. I am speaking as the Founder of my own company and I know just how challenging it can be to let go and delegate. Only by letting go of certain details and delegating them to fellow team members to handle that the company had the opportunity to truly grow. If I had clung on to the day-to-day details, or if I was a micro-manager, would my company be the success that it is today? The simple truth is no.
Most business owners are more prone to think, “I can do it all myself,” but this self-limiting thought process does not allow you the time or full productivity to dedicate to the core of your business. You may be buried and merely just busy doing more menial activities that are NOT the best value of your time.
If you are entrenched with 10, 20+ hours a week on social media management, curating content, writing, editing, proofing and scheduling blog posts, calendar management, writing newsletters, WHO is operating your business?
Click to read the full post on Huff Post for Women
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jan 28, 2014 | Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
Entrepreneurs and small business owners alike are extremely busy building, generating, troubleshooting and growing their organizations to scale and own a piece in their market share. It can take an army to build a business; a team to orchestrate your success and manage each facet of your internal systems and processes.
Entrepreneurship requires 150% dedication, focus and effort. It is not a part time endeavor to embark upon while meandering through life. If you are choosing to operate a business, then you must live and breathe your corporation, from top to bottom, every day. A strong interrelated component to your company is your online world and reputation as a solid and reputable organization. Your customers are online every single day and you need to be where they are, serving them and providing solutions.
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge
Social Media Marketing is essential platform as part of your marketing mix. Consumer buyer behavior reflects their consistent quest for up to the minute information about your company’s products and services. People buy from people and customers prefer the immediacy of the web, the data they can search, the recommendations they find and a community for their voice. You need to not only have an online presence but to be actively listening to your prospects, colleagues, partners, competition and clients.
“Companies need to realize how important it is to integrate social into every part of their marketing and communications plans of 2014.” Lindsay Bell & Laura Petrolino – Arment Dietrich, Inc.
Keeping a tidy and productive digital office necessitates a visible online presence with consistency and frequency or your voice will get lost within the noise and fundamental chatter. Building and maintaining your networks takes a lot of time, energy and focus. There are literally hundreds of social channels to choose from, which can be overwhelming. You need to evaluate and understand your audience, where they hang out, what they want and what they consume.
Managing your online presence, social channels AND daily business operations requires an extensive amount of time, energy and triaging of tasks and projects. Some days go much smoother than others, averting the challenges and roadblocks.
When you are hit with a few time bombs, take a step back or six, and ask yourself, what is the competition doing that I’m not? Why do they seem to effectively manage their day to day operations and business systems with such ease and simplicity?
They may just have a secret weapon that you don’t. A vested and dedicated partner.
A Virtual Assistant
“If you want to grow your business past a certain level, you’ve got to add more people. You’ve got 24 hours in the day, and you’re never going to get more. So if you need to take care of more stuff. . .because that’s what you need to do to grow a business—do more stuff—you’ve got to add other people’s 24 hours. You’ve GOT to delegate!” Laura Roeder
What does your competitor know that you don’t?
- Too many hats reduce their focus on their core mission. It isn’t about the fashion statement but getting things done.
- There is another entrepreneurial expert who can support their business, brainstorm ideas and share in the passion of building their business.
- They want to work ON their business rather than IN it.
- They understand the virtual assistant offers different strengths and brings a different skill set to the digital world.
- The Virtual Assistant uses a variety of tools and platforms to help enhance and expedite daily tasks and systems.
- They don’t need to stay updated on every single new tool or platform.
- They are better able to prioritize and accomplish their goals.
- Work life balance isn’t just a phrase but an important lifestyle decision.
- Social media is time suck and they need support to gain greater visibility and notoriety.
- An extra pair of eyes and “brain matter” benefits the editing and proofing process.
- Valuable and rich content curation takes hours of time and they want to focus on building relationships instead.
- They would rather be in the field networking and meeting clients than managing their appointment scheduling and reminders.
- They are able to be more organized and have increased time management to focus on what is important, rather than on what needs to be done.
- They save money by delegating because they only pay for project time, not benefits, insurances, training, office supplies or taxes.
- In order to make money and experience the ROI from their online activity, they value and understand the opportunity to partner with an executive Virtual Assistant.
“You cannot grow your business all on your own so stop trying to. It’s time for you to trust others to help you. Without delegation your business will be limited by your own time and energy.” Matthew Swyers
What will be your secret weapon in 2014 to help you drive your business and meet your goals? If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, you’ve got your Ace right here.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Dec 18, 2013 | Virtual Assistant
There will come a time in your business when you feel plagued with the never ending amount of tasks and projects required to successfully operate your company. In a state of overwhelm, there is simply too much for one person to achieve while remaining efficient, effective and balanced. You may find that you have numerous responsibilities to complete but not enough hours in the day.
- You don’t have time to focus on your core genius
- Low income tasks usurp your valuable time
- Your work/life balance it out of whack
- You have a set of tasks you need completed that are outside your skill set or expertise
- You have missed deadlines or appointments
- You spend hours updating your social media platforms, taking you away from your high payoff tasks and projects
- You are having trouble finding time to research, update and syndicate your blog posts
- You haven’t published a recent e-newsletter
- There are 5424 emails in your inbox
- Your You Tube channel is collecting dust
- You consistently procrastinate on tasks because you simply don’t enjoy doing them
- You don’t have the time to devote to working ON your business rather than IN it
“The first rule of management is delegation. Don’t try and do everything yourself because you can’t.” Anthea Turner
If Chris Ducker can outline 101 Tasks that you can outsource to a Virtual Assistant, can you just imagine what you are holding on to? For example, he listed categories ranging from email marketing, administrative and blogging, email and schedule management tasks, to content writer, SEO and graphic design. Under each category there were bulleted lists of tasks/projects to be delegated. It was quite extensive and really makes me think about all of the daily non-income producing items that you don’t delegate. I understand you may get into the groove and just keep going with a project, but at what cost to the rest of your business?
Ask yourself:
- Is delegating a logical next step to help grow my business?
- How much time am I spending on tasks that impede my progression and waste my time?
- What are my most pressing issues or pain points that command most of my time?
- Have I been able to accomplish ALL of my daily To Do list items?
- If I delegated tasks, how would I utilize an additional 5-8 hours per week?
- How would I feel if I only worked on income generating tasks and released the more administrative projects to a virtual assistant?
The inability to delegate is one of the biggest problems I see with managers at all levels. Eli Broad
There is no need to struggle with your business operations and daily tasks when you have the opportunity to outsource. It will save you time and money. With 168 hours in the work week, it is important to choose your activities and projects that make the most sense for yourself and your business. If you find yourself in floury of needless activities that aren’t producing desired outcomes or generating revenue, then it may be time to consider working with a Virtual Assistant to give you back your time and passion to focus on your business. If you are still teetering on the fence a bit, you might enjoy reading: 5 Mental Roadblocks to Partnering with a Virtual Assistant
2014 is here. It’s time to do something different. Make new inroads; greater progress.
The Sales Blog: “Successful people spend their time where they create value. They delegate, eliminate, or defer activities where they cannot create value.”
Outsourcing is a low cost, high payoff tool to assist you with your organizational growth. There are only so many hats we entrepreneurs can wear at one time, before our do it all mentality ends up costing us either lost time, opportunities, accounts, business development or free time. Why aren’t you delegating?
“When I am speaking with new business owners, or ones that can’t seem to find the time to get everything done, the very first piece of advice I offer is to partner with a virtual assistant.” M. Shannon Hernandez
Call Ace today to get started! We are waiting to hear from YOU!
Let’s ring in the New Year with a BANG!!!
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Sep 19, 2013 | Time Management
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.”
Determine where you want to be and who you want to be when you grow up and then, start planning.
4 Steps to Effective Time Management
Step One
Release your tie to your inbox.
It seems so simple, yet as soon as a notification pops up, off we go. Let’s see what came in. Every email does not need to create a sense of urgency. By continually monitoring your Smartphone and inbox, you generate a stop/start cycle in your work. It distracts you from your most current focus. You can let it go. Schedule specific times during the day to read emails. You can create an autoresponder letting your senders know the times you will be checking your email. You can also apply this to your phone, text messages and other IMs. Each time you stop to read a new message, you not only interrupt your work flow and concentration, but you tack on more time to complete a project, thereby decreasing your efficiency and productivity.
You must manage your Blackberry; do not let it manage you. Many executives check their smartphones throughout meetings and during off-hours. This is not good for concentration, and has a negative impact on decision making. Use it only in bursts: check emails for an hour or so and then put it away so you can focus on the task at hand. Richard Branson
Step Two
Have a plan!! A blueprint for success
Your outline or goal sheet will help to give you a roadmap to accomplish your objectives. When you don’t create a plan or at least a daily To Do list at minimum, your days are spent “willy nilly,” putting out fires, managing what you can remember, they daily influx of projects or the To Dos that are most current. You need a clear direction and plan, outlining your short term and long term goals for success enabling you to prioritize your tasks, projects and desired outcomes. You don’t want to wander aimlessly and miss an important oasis.
Prioritizing is the root of all small business evil. You must take the time to sit down and prioritize your day. Ideally before you leave the office, have a list written for the next day. Once you have a priority of daily tasks being organized becomes easy. Steve Freeman
Step Three
Tomorrow never comes! Tackle it now.
Procrastination is a killer of all things; don’t be fooled by putting something off until you feel like it or think there is a better time to finish up. The time is now, not later. Does your procrastination resemble a little fun on Pinterest, trolling Facebook profiles and your news feed or other types of busy work? Well, just stop right now and realize what you aren’t accomplishing. You are setting yourself up for doom and gloom because when you take the time to review your completed list, nothing got done or was only half managed. Set a To Do timer and commit to it. Forget the non-essentials, your time robbers and FOCUS!! Know what is important and why. Make your list with action steps and stick to it. Create task reminders. Use whatever system works for you, but use a system.
Step Four
Organize!
Organization enhances your time management and productivity. If you have to consistently search for documents,you are wasting your valuable time. File documents, emails, bookmark websites, make lists of your logins and remember everything has a place so keep it there. The more time you spend searching for things, the more time you lose.
You can learn to be more efficient in your time management which will in turn fire up your productivity.
What steps will you institute today?
