by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jan 13, 2014 | Productivity, Small Business, Time Management
Nope, you won’t find them in this post but you can read more in: Don’t Die by the Deadline. The title promised you help on how to lasso your hankering for procrastination.
There are no real tips in this post, except: GET IT DONE.
You have a choice in every aspect of your life and with every choice there is a consequence. Whether the outcome is positive or negative, it is something you essentially choose. If you choose to put off what needs to be done, then you will pay the price. Can you afford it? When you invest in your time, you invest in yourself and your company. You are highly valued. Make sure you realize this.
You may procrastinate for a host of reasons, but ultimately it comes down to you doing or not doing something and when. If it is all that important and has a deadline, I would imagine you would attend to it with a little more immediacy than letting it hang on until the last moment. Usually, the final product of the rushed job leaves a great deal to be desired. It isn’t worth it to do something with only a fraction of your attention and interest.
Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Lord Chesterfield
Consider the outcomes and “penalties” when you need to tackle a project or task. Your driving motivators should come from within because it is important to you not because you are making someone else check in on you to ensure you completed your alleged mission impossible.
Most people don’t have a problem finding time for the things they want to do, but once a task is presumed challenging, time consuming, or boring, procrastination takes over.
You have priorities. You have goals. Accomplish them. Light that internal fire and be accountable to yourself. Own your lists and To Dos. Yes, there are some things that present more of a struggle or personal challenge for you, but that is not an invitation to walk away or leave it on the back burner.
Things people say:
- I can’t get started.
- I don’t know where to begin.
- It is too hard.
- I need more help.
- I don’t want to do it.
- I don’t want to do it alone.
- It is frustrating.
- It isn’t fun.
- I just don’t feel like it.
- I have more time.
- What are your tips?
- It isn’t due yet.
The whining list is infinite. You have said some of these and honestly, I have too. The drama of I can’t, won’t, I don’t feel like it gets as old as the “stuff” I found in a lunch baggie inside my beach bag from this summer. It isn’t pleasant and accomplishes nothing but increased frustration and dissatisfaction.
If you have something to do, deadlines or not “Just Do it.” You don’t need help or special tips. You need to set your goals and priorities.
Important things get done.
- You can do them now.
- Prioritize your list.
- Create actions steps.
- Delegate.
- File.
- Discard.
Just take action! Real action!
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Dec 23, 2013 | Communication, Organization, Time Management
The expansion of the digital global office is not just working in your pajamas and drinking coffee all day. It is an efficient and productive place of business to business operations. There has been a constant increase in the number of remote or work from home opportunities and it will only continue to escalate. It gives your business the benefit of assembling a top notch team of professionals, working in a variety of time zones, contributing to your growth and success.
At last count, that amounted to some 3.3 million people working remotely (not including the self-employed or unpaid volunteers), or 2.6% of the U.S. employee workforce. Global Workplace Analytics
Operating a virtual office can be simplified through utilization of many of the online/open-source productivity and collaborative tools ensuring a connected global workforce. Creating a virtual team is a cost effective and productive avenue to manage your business, maintain a low overhead; thereby increasing your profit margin.
Working remotely offers a more versatile environment, increased work/life balance, varied working hours, reduced stress, no commute and enhanced knowledge of technology.
While members of your virtual team may not meet face to face very frequently, they do regularly interact online for discussions, brain-storming and training sessions, requiring a variety of tools to enhance communications, collaborative efforts and teamwork. Effective communications, transparency and feedback are the building blocks of your successful remote environment. Email and text are two of today’s most widely used “communication” tools but remember, a phone call or video chat offers more of the personal nuances and relationship builders within your virtual community.
The applications shown below are just a minute sampling of the available basic online solutions, helping you to manage your remote office. Source the ones that best suit your present needs as well as those that will support your corporate growth and future goals.
JUST THE BASICS: 14 Tools for a Productive Virtual Team
- Google Docs: office suite of online collaborative tools to create/share documents and forms
- Google Calendar: Web-based calendar to share and collaborate with your team
- Genbook: online calendar scheduling allowing colleagues and prospects to schedule appointments directly with you instead of continual back and forth emails
- SKYPE: VOiP for live chats, video or IMs. Also offers low cost calling options
- Viber: free calls, text and file sharing to other Viber users over WiFi or 3G. They also offer low cost calling options for non-Viber users
- Google Hangouts: group calls, video conferencing, file sharing, share on YouTube
- Mighty Text: simple tool to text from your computer and have all messages sync to your phone and other technologies. It even alerts you to incoming calls
- Ring Central: cloud based phone system – nationwide calling and fax
- JoinMe: screen sharing, send files, and share control
- Free Conference: set up free conference calls up to 150 attendees with call recording
- AnyMeeting: full featured online FREE meetings up to 200 attendees, video broadcasting, screen sharing, ext surveys, recording, invitations and more
- DropBox: free file storage, share with colleagues/friends. Simplifies sending or sharing of large documents that most mail clients are unable to accommodate. They offer two-step verification as an added security measure
- TeamBox: online project collaboration/management to streamline conversations and documents, keeping them in one central location.
- Awesome Screenshot: take full screen or partial screenshots: edit, annotate, save or send
Just do your due diligence to ensure the features and benefits match your goals and collaborative requirements.
- Work smarter, not harder.
- Embrace the cloud.
- Stay connected with your team.
- Foster a community of trust and openness.
- Remember to check-in weekly.
- Don’t simply rely on texting and emails.
- Use chat tools.
- Create online communities for your team
- Continue to research and review other collaborative tools.
When working with your virtual team:
What tools or applications do you find most effective?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Dec 12, 2013 | Small Business, Social Media
“I just don’t have enough time in the day to do it all.”
How many times have you thought that to yourself? I hear it all of the time from prospects and clients. It is almost virtually impossible to do it all and be it all to everyone while still building your business and providing the necessary service (s) to your clients. Entrepreneurs and small business owners alike share the same sentiment whether they are just launching their businesses or living in the trenches. There are so many hats to wear and you can’t afford to remove one of them UNLESS you have a little bit of help.
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.
“Social media is not just an activity; it is an investment of valuable time and resources. Surround yourself with people who not just support you and stay with you, but inform your thinking about ways to WOW your online presence.” Sean Gardner
Choose a few networks and be involved. Actively listening, sharing, engaging and measuring. While you are doing all of this, you still have a business to operate. Duties to fulfill. Responsibilities to manage. Where does it all end? Where does it begin?
It begins with you.
- Create your systems and strategies for your business and your online presence.
- Refine and revisit both to ensure you are on target and meeting your goals.
- Understand that social media is an investment that will reward you but you must do the time.
- Find and USE tools that will enhance your productivity and efficiency.
- Set aside time each day to engage and monitor your social networks.
- Evaluate small business success tips.
- Automate some of your content but NOT your conversations.
- Don’t spread yourself too thin or you will not grow your communities.
- Use an editorial calendar to help keep you focused.
- Learn to unplug and focus
- Generate remarkable, valuable content.
- Know where and how to syndicate your blog posts in addition to your social networks.
- Know your core genius and outsource the low payoff activities.
Delegating is a strength. It helps you to be able to focus and perform your tasks and projects that ONLY YOU can and should be doing.
“Train yourself to stop doing tasks that don’t add much value to your business – admin, repetitive, things you hate and things you aren’t good at.” Ekaterina Ramirez
- Make a list of all of your online efforts with action steps for each.
- How much time you spend managing these tasks.
- Carefully review it.
- Note what does NOT generate income.
- You can visibly see what you can effectively delegate.
- Move those lower payoff items off of your plate and fill it with rich tasty cuisine.
Are you still fighting with a few mental roadblocks to delegating and increasing your efficiency and productivity? Simply send us a message and let’s talk about getting you back on track to scale your business and online presence. There is no sensible need to go it alone, when you have an Ace virtual assistant waiting to be your vested partner.
“Exceptional leaders, however, understand the importance of and how to surround themselves with exceptional talent and delegate tasks and responsibility to them.” Peter Gasca
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Nov 5, 2013 | Entrepreneur, Productivity, Time Management
image credit: spokesman.com
Time management is always a hot topic as we seem to think we have so little time to effectively manage our days and have some semblance of work life balance. You too want to get more things accomplished while the clock keeps ticking and more tasks seem to pile up.
What can you do? Get a handle on your time, your interruptions and your distractions. Thanks to technology and the digital world, we are always connected and being bombarded with data overload. Crush the chaos. It can take all of the discipline you can muster to tune out the influx of information coming at you. Time can be an elusive mystery when you are in a constant struggle to find more of it, so it is up to you to invest in your time, in your life, in your business. The best thing you can do is learn to manage yourself to better manage your time. “Choice management.”
We are repeatedly bombarded by data overload via our push notifications, social media notices, text messages, phone calls, e-mails, Skype chats and news alerts on a daily basis. It is marvelous to always be connected, in touch and just a mere keystroke away. You are never alone and continuously up to date in both your personal and professional life. But there is a hitch and that is the negative impact it has on our concentration and stress levels. It hurts our brains!!
As a technologically in-tune society, we must learn to filter the urgency of our incoming communications in order to remain devoted to the tasks at hand. The constant interruptions have a pronounced impact on our productivity and efficiency level, never mind time management. If we continue to allow outside distractions to compete for our time and focus, we are unable to give our absolute attention to our present moment and activities. Interruptions because of too much data in the workplace costs US businesses $650 billion a year!
Computerworld reports that we are now living in a world of “interruption technology.”
In a 2012 study by The University of California, Irvine and the US Army, it was found that frequent email checkers were less productive, less focused and more stressed. On average, these types of email users averaged 37 switched windows per hour compared to a non-email checkers who only switched 18 times per hour. The second group of workers engaged more deeply with teammates, were focused on their tasks, increased their productivity and were less stressed.
Limit Distractions
- Schedule time on your calendar to tune out and turn off
- Let others know you are “off limits” during certain working hours
- Close the door or put on ear buds
- Silence your Smartphone
- Just say NO to social media! (Facebook and Twitter updates are always accessible).
- Shutdown everything that notifies you of an alert, sound, or other announcement (your e-mail will still be waiting for you).
- COMMIT to your decision to focus and jump in with gusto
- Once your project is completed, come up for air, stretch, respond to voicemails, text messages and other communications.
- Grab an energy snack to refuel for your next session
- Hide your tech gadgets
Remember, being offline is an industrious act toward completing your projects, achieving your goals and remaining on task. You will see a considerable increase in your productivity as you continue to shield yourself from outside disruptions and digital noise or as Stewart Baines says: “infobesity.”
Turning off isn’t just for the business world. We are electronically tethered 24/7 and this crosses into our personal boundaries. It becomes too much when we allow technology to consume our time and energy away from the present moment, sacrificing the things that truly matter. In a consumer survey last year, Qualcomm found that 37% of people use their phones while attending a party, 36% do so while eating at a restaurant and 35% use their phones while playing with their children.
Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply. Thich Nhat Hanh
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Oct 9, 2013 | Delegation, Small Business, Virtual Assistant
Operating your own business is a dream. You know all of the ins and outs; what is required; the nuances; your target markets; you have it down pat from sunrise to sunset. It is all second nature that you could run it in your sleep if you had to.
While there is nothing inherently wrong with this scenario, ask yourself is it productive? Is it efficient? Are you and your company operating at 100% in order to experience growth?
I would venture a guess that your responses are probably teetering more toward the “No, not exactly” versus “We are the best and on target to triple our revenues.”
Many of my clients have been in your position, realizing they are not poised for growth and they want to move from entrepreneur to more of a small business status. As I have stated before, being able to effectively delegate represents a readiness and growth mentality. You must relinquish much of the day to day tasks in order to be able to focus on your “real” business goals. “Entrepreneur, Fire Thyself.”
“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, member of the 2011 North American class of Entrepreneurial Winning Women.
There are several steps or processes to be able to arrive at this juncture and once you do, it is still a matter of understanding and learning how to work with a virtual assistant, when you have always done everything on your own.
I get that! I really do.
- It took me a few years before I was ready to delegate
- I had always done it
- No one could do anything better or faster
- Why should I write out all of my policies and procedures when it is quicker if I just manage it on the spot?
I am over that and value the freedom and ease of having a tremendous virtual assistant. I don’t need to do every single task or project. If I was so bogged down in each and every daily business operation and activity, I wouldn’t have the time to build my business, provide personalized service, work ON it rather than IN it and I wouldn’t have enough hours in the day to write a blog post. I would be a slave to the clock and the company. That is not the kind of business dream I have.
Clients have asked what should they outsource and what is the best way to work with a virtual assistant.
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
Here is an exercise that may shed some light on your time spent versus invested: for one week track every task and project that you work on.
Note the time spent. What wasn’t completed, what was overlooked, any appointments missed, activities half completed, which ones generated revenue. How many low payoff activities usurped your time?
At the end of the week, review it. What should you move off of your plate?? It should be very clear.
What every day operations are you involved in that also aren’t the best value of your time? Sure, they are necessary, but do YOU need to do them?
Working with a Virtual Assistant (Best idea ever!)
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
Thes
e suggested tips may seem a little overwhelming or daunting at first, but once you lay out the foundation or the architecture of your partnership, the coming months and years will prove to be very lucrative for you. It is worth the investment and time to set up your blueprint for success.
If you are ready to talk, let’s give it a shot. Call or send me an email to schedule your free consult.
