Posts made in September, 2008

Tuesday Time Tip

Posted by Laurie on Sep 30, 2008 in Inspiration, work life balance | Comments Off

This week’s time tip is very simple, but truly powerful.  It involves two parts:

1. Every Sunday morning spend 15 minutes reviewing your calendar for the next 2 weeks.  Make sure you have no conflicts and that you know how much free time you have.
2. Now that you’ve reviewed your schedule make sure you add something to it – time for yourself!  Even if it’s just one 15 minute block during each day, it’s very important to get that little break each day.

Hope you have a great week everyone!

Small Steps

Posted by Laurie on Sep 29, 2008 in Entrepreneurial, networking, virtual assistance | Comments Off

You know when you get excited and passionate about an idea and you want to do everything all at once?  I felt that way about starting my virtual assistant business, but I quickly realized that you have to start with small steps, and work your way up to having everything you want.

So here are my simple suggestions for some good small steps to take for any aspiring entrepreneur.

1. Make a list of everything that you think needs to be done.
2. Break your list down into manageable tasks – for example, instead of draft business plan as one big step, try breaking it down into parts and list each part as a task
3. Prioritize your task list. Which things do you have to do to meet your legal obligations in relation to start-up? Which steps do you have to take to get the paperwork rolling?
4. Make a budget and a financial plan
5. Find a support system – whether you hire some help or find a mentor, don’t try to go it alone!
6. Work your way  through your task list a little at time. DON’T get hung up when there are things you can’t do immediately – just move on to the next task and go back later!

I’m only a couple of months into really running my business, and there are still things I’m working on. But by taking small steps I’ve been making progress every single day. Today, I networked, planned some blog posts, search for VA job postings and worked on my Elance profile.  Tomorrow I’ll do even more!

Who Uses a VA?

Posted by Laurie on Sep 25, 2008 in blogging, virtual assistance | Comments Off

Virtual Assistants received plenty of buzz in the blogosphere this week. Check out these great posts from people who use and recommend virtual assistance as a business solution.  Then go to my main site and see the virtual services I can provide you to improve your business!

Ed Gandia posting on Freelance Switch has a great post about Outsourcing, specifically mentioning tasks that a virtual assistant can help you with.  I love the note that having a virtual assistant can help your business seem bigger and more professional than some people would expect of a solo enterprise.

Viralblog shares how hiring talented people has improved his business and suggests you hire an assistant to improve yours.

Melanie Benson Strick on the Team Double-Click blog shares 9 Simple virtual Team Outsourcing Tips

Meryl Evans on the BBP blog shares that a virtual assistant can help with transcription

On Infogle there is an interesting article called Virtual Assistant Business about the trend of hiring a VA

And on Twitter @DrMommy said

I have to tell you that VA’s are terrific!! My VA is also a
social media VA so she is fantastic!, Don’t have one?? What r u waiting for?

So, what are you waiting for?!

Tuesday Time Tip

Posted by Laurie on Sep 23, 2008 in virtual assistance, work life balance | Comments Off

I’ve decided to add a new feature to my blog!

Every Tuesday I will publish a tip on time-saving. It might be about a new technology, maybe just a reminder of effective ways to utilize time, maybe I will suggest a way to multi-task.  If you have suggestions of great time-saving tips I’d love to hear them, the best way to get them to me is to dm me on Twitter @halosecretarial but you can always comment or email if you prefer.

This week’s Tuesday Time Tip is:

Keep track of your time for 2 days and see exactly where you are spending it.  Did you lose an hour to email, or get sidetracked by a colleague?  Do you spend a lot of time in meetings or on phone calls?  After you monitor your time for 2 days you need to sit down and make 3 lists.

1. Things you have to do
2. Things you can delegate
3. Things that you can eliminate

Now all you have to do is follow through (that’s the hard part – sorry!!)  And if you’re looking for someone to delegate to, remember the friendly VA who blogged this tip!!

Networking + Learning + Fun = Conference!

Posted by Laurie on Sep 22, 2008 in blogging, Family, Home Office, networking, virtual assistance | Comments Off

This weekend one of the main themes in my twitter account was BlogWorld Expo 2008. I enjoyed all the information that was shared by BlogWorld attendees, via Twitter and of course on the many blog entries that have already been posted – and I’m sure there will be many more this week! My faves so far:

• All the coverage from Sparkplugging!
• This from Freelance Writing Jobs
• Missy Ward’s post incl the joys of BWE on crutches
• Rick Moran from Pajamas Media has a really detailed discussion on the changes in blogging, based on his experiences from BWE

I have only been seriously blogging since this summer, so I wasn’t aware of how exciting this conference would be – I sure hope to attend BWE 2009 though!

On the subject of conferences, I really believe they are a great way to do some in person networking, as well of course as learn some great information during actual sessions.  What do you think are THE conferences to attend during the year?  Do you prefer regional ones or ones like Blogworld that attract attendees and speakers from all over the world? Do you stick to your niche only or mix it up a little?

I think ideally I’d attend a couple of big conferences a year – one for virtual assistants maybe, or something with a legal focus, plus something like BlogWorld or BlogHer.  I also need to get out and do some networking locally, and fortunately that is easily affordable!!