by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Mar 9, 2021 | Entrepreneur, Productivity, Time Management
Getting down to business is more than being busy. Busy focuses on getting things done and checking off items on a To Do List. It is easy to confuse being busy with being productive. As an entrepreneur, you’ve got an organization to manage, a product or service to market, and a team to lead but if you’re tied up dowsing fires, and making checkmarks, then your productivity level is probably waning. Put the fire chief hat on the shelf and consider results-oriented actions to produce measurable outcomes.
Busy is transactional behavior, a quick fix, not a long-term solution for success. Think in terms of transformation.
Transformational thought processes generate a foundation for infinite strength and durable business achievement. Productive people establish viable systems and processes to direct their attention to single tasks, minimizing diversions and distractions.
Busy people touch everything that comes across their desk, check email at every ping, lend an ear for text messages, maintain a side-eye on social media posts, fiddle here and there, and at the end of the day, have managed to spread themselves so thin, wondering where did the time go.
Choose to reach peak productivity levels on any given workday by forgetting about looking and feeling like a busy donkey and transform yourself into a productive unicorn today. Larry Kim
Busy people tend to ask, ‘What else can I do?’ Filling their day with a whirlwind of activities that can fuel the ego and make for great conversation at the (virtual) watercooler. The busy bees are intent on doing more, perhaps in a chaotic and unfocused fashion, accomplishing a myriad of micro-tasks to fill their day. Maintaining the busyness is also another tactic for avoidance and possibly not eating the frog.
In How Being Busy Makes You Unproductive, Travis Bradberry stated, The truth is, busyness makes you less productive.
Productive people ask, ‘What else can I remove?’ Productive people hone in on their talents, top priorities and core genius to drive their results. Fueled by purpose, they often check in with themselves, thinking about what they can do, dump or delegate.
I received an email from an exceptionally valued long-time client who shared her To Do list with me. She stated: “These are just a few of the things I need to grow my business – and I am failing at doing them, but when I do, it totally pulls me away from the work I NEED to do that is billable.”
Determining the greatest value of your time requires a little taste of honesty. While you may enjoy many of the daily business operations and social media fun, they aren’t your ticket to paradise. They are required fillers to help fortify your business structure but are hardly the top dollar shakers.
Everything we do is an investment of our 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 the manner in which you approach your business operations and your life.
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.
Transform your life and your business by not being busy. Be productive.
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 | Aug 10, 2016 | Delegation, Executive Administration, Time Management
There will come a time in your business when you feel overwhelmed with the day to day operations. There is simply too much for one person to achieve while remaining efficient and effective.
As an entrepreneur, the CEO of your company, you have a limited number of hours to work both IN and ON your business. Constantly flipping your hats not only takes time, but a shift in focus, a reorganization of your priorities and it disrupts your workflow. It probably makes you a little crazy or insane. You may end up overlooking important business details or even client needs because you are buried in the trenches instead of running the front line.
There’s just not nearly enough time to get everything done and still operate your business. It is this realization, the “Ah ha” moment, that you recognize delegating these projects and tasks to an assistant will make your life and your business, much more productive.
Delegation is an advantageous productivity tool we frequently hear about— one that will transform your businesses in terms of greater income and more free time for you! And who doesn’t love both of these?
BUT, many are timid about beginning the process for fear of relinquishing control of parts of our business processes and procedures. Mine! Mine! Mine!
It’s time to give up this thought process and embrace a growth mentality for your business.
Focus on the high payoff activities that model your organization’s vision, foundation, and core competencies.
Effective delegation for entrepreneurs is essential! When you outsource your tasks and projects, you are able to focus on more important responsibilities that only you can do to cultivate your business and generate revenue. The art of delegation is an indispensable part of establishing your growing business.
When you delegate properly and use software to help you delegate, you’ll find that your company runs more efficiently, productivity levels rise, people are happier at work, and your quality of work improves immensely. Amara Pope – timedoctor.com
You know you need to start delegating if:
- You spend 7-10+ hours online, curating, scheduling and managing your social media and it takes away from time with clients, colleagues, partners etc.
- You need to implement some systems to streamline your business processes
- You have wished for a like-minded brainstorming partner
- You are ready to scale, but don’t have enough hours in the day.
- You find it hard to concentrate and stay focused because there is too much for one person to do.
- You have some projects or platforms that are barely started or only half-finished.
- You lay awake at night wondering how you will manage everything.
What stops people from delegating:
- They feel they are too disorganized to illustrate what needs to be done.
- They believe they don’t have the financial means. (It is actually more cost-effective to partner with a Virtual Assistant as you only pay for project time).
- They feel their schedules are too hectic to take the time to delegate. (If you are this busy, your time restraints will only increase without delegation).
- They feel someone else won’t do it the same way or be as efficient (A virtual assistant is a solopreneur like yourself: efficiency, productivity, and industry expertise IS our business. We know of different tools and tips to professionally manage your projects in a proficient, resourceful manner).
Each of the above objections emphasizes the necessity to delegate. As long as you continue to clutch the tasks that stop you from growing your business, you will feel exasperated, overwhelmed, and unproductive.
Delegating will free up your time. It enables you to eliminate low-priority tasks while allowing you to concentrate your efforts on those business systems that enhance your productivity and your profit margin. Your time and energy should be committed to creating new products or services, networking, consulting with clients and prospects, forming strategic alliances, expanding into new markets, business development, social media engagement and so forth. These are tasks that only YOU can do. They are your CORE GENIUS.
Ask yourself:
- Is delegating a logical next step to help grow my business?
- How much time am I spending on tasks that impede my progress and waste my time?
- What are my most pressing issues or pain points that eat up 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 use an additional 5-8 hours per week?
- How would I feel if I only worked on income generating tasks and outsourced the rest?
Delegation is the perfect low cost, high impact tool to help expand and develop your business without having to increase responsibilities or sacrifice your personal time with your family.
The bottom line is that effective delegation is the sensible alternative to help you scale your business and get more done.
It takes courage, intelligence, and humility to delegate in ways that actually drive productivity, engagement, and success throughout an entire organization. But every leader should aim for that high standard, rather than shrink from the risks it entails. Baird Brightman
Do you have a minute? Please share in the comments below your thoughts on:
What has been your greatest success or disappointment from delegating tasks/projects?
