No matter what your career, one of the best things you can do (in my opinion anyway!) is to constantly be adding to your knowledge. You can take a class, you can read books and articles on a particular subject or you can get involved with a group or project that will expand your horizons. Continuing education does not have to mean spending money, although money spent on the right schooling isn’t going to be a waste.

When I first decided to embark on the path of running a virtual legal assistant business I knew there were some areas I needed to improve in. I self-taught myself a lot about blogging, learning how to manipulate my css a bit, learning how to work with html, even if only slightly, because learning things helped me save money in the long run and also added to my ability to serve my clients. I also had to learn, and continue to learn, about what it means to run a business – to track expenses and budget for marketing, to analyze cost and effectiveness when purchasing items for my office, and so much more. I feel like in the last two years I have been learning non-stop – and I love it!

Recently I decided that I was going to more formally continue my education. While I have an honours paralegal diploma, I never attended University and getting a degree is something I know will have immense value for me, even if only psychologically. It also adds value to my family, as getting a degree will hopefully help my children see that I value education for myself as well as for them-when the time comes in 10 or 12 years!

So as of this week, in addition to running my business and caring for my children and occasionally cooking dinner, I will be working on a Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) through Athabasca University. Wish me luck!

A while back I was interviewed for this piece (Virtual Paralegals – Page 3) and it was quite exciting to see some quotes attributed to me in the article!

I also enjoyed reading the comments from some of my contemporaries like Cathy Ribble and Tina Marie Hilton.  I haven’t been as heavily into the social networking scene lately (too busy!) and the article was a nice reminder of the amazing community that is evolving for virtual legal assistants and virtual paralegals. I need to spend more time in it!

Maybe later though….work is calling my name again. Later all!

One of my favorite tasks to perform for clients is transcription. I can type out letters or court documents, or even perform tasks just based on instructions from the transcription, for example, a transcription might attach a number of documents that I’m asked to describe individually.

For lawyers or other business owners who are considering taking advantage of the benefits of transcription, there are a number of options available. Most valuable, in my opinion, is a digital dictation device. An individual can buy a digital recorder (available at pretty much any office or computer store), or use an application.

When purchasing a digital recorder, consider the following:

• ease of upload of digital audio files
• battery capacity
• ability to organize files on the recorder
• available recording time

When considering an application, such as Express Dictate, realize the differences inherent in using software versus a more traditional recorder. A bonus is that you won’t have to figure out uploading the files from your recorder onto your computer, but a negative is that you can lose portability.

Of course digital is not the only option. While in an article I recently read, Nicole Black noted that many lawyers “despise” the older methods of transcription, I actually have clients who prefer tape transcription and simply aren’t ready to embrace digital technology! I have a minicassette transcriber just for that reason and if needed may purchase a microcassette transcriber also. For me, it’s not just about my preference, but making sure the client is able to work in a familiar and comfortable way.

I know that another option offered by some virtual legal assistants is telephone dictation. This method is very easy to use for the client, as they simply call in to a toll free number and record their instructions.

Regardless of the transcription method chosen, dictation is still a very useful tool for a lawyer to have in their arsenal. It is quick and allows for easy delegation of a variety of tasks.

Like many small business owners, I spent some time recently putting my tax information in order for my accountant. It’s all sent off now (thank goodness!) and I’m vowing to update my information quarterly this coming year (and first quarter ends next week) so that I’m not trying to organize a year’s worth of information come February 2011.

In organizing my financial information, I noticed some really important things. We all know it’s good to keep your overhead as low as is practicable. I was glad to see that while I had a number of expenses, my ongoing monthly expenses are quite minimal. I started my virtual legal assistant business with a goal of being quite frugal. My main recurring expenses include things like my internet, my phone, my webhosting and domain renewals, and my project management application. Altogether these expenses come under $200 per month, which allows me a great deal of flexibility in how I operate. I am free to only take on appropriate clients and I don’t force them to commit to retainer plans. I want them to be able to keep their absolute expenses low too!

Low overhead is precisely one of the main benefits to using offsite contract staff, whether you are talking about a virtual legal assistant or paralegal, an accountant or any similar service provider.  For example, when my clients work with me, they are able to engage my services to any extent necessary, whether that is for one small project in a month or for some dictation almost every single day. When they go on vacation and don’t need any assistance, they don’t pay for it. If they go on vacation and want someone to check their email, they can have that too! It is completely flexible and up to the client to utilize the services to match their needs.

Of course every small business owner, from lawyer to virtual assistant, will have different needs for their overhead. They may absolutely need to operate out of an actual office space or they may be able to work from Starbucks. They may need full-time or part-time help in some capacity or they be able to work with just occasional support from other service providers. The key is to know what things are truly necessary and work within the most appropriate but cost-effective structure that you can, if you want to maintain maximum control and flexibility over your work environment, instead of feeling like a slave to your own business.

Recently I’ve had some discussions with one client, who so appreciates my services he thinks I should start planning to “scale up”. It’s a move I’ve considered, but don’t think I’m ready for just yet.

One concern I have, for example, is that this particularly client mentioned that he’d prefer someone was always available to answer the phone for my company, especially if he were to refer certain types of business to me. I currently only answer the phone very occasionally, as my workspace is not always conducive to professional business calls (got to love those noisy children!) I always respond promptly to phone messages and other than initial consultations my clients generally correspond with me via email anyway.

But I do worry that my phone setup is holding me back, not only from eventually scaling up, but from simply achieving my current goal of a busy one-person virtual legal assistant practice.

Do YOU prefer to speak to a live person the first time you call a business? Do you avoid leaving messages and just move on to the next person if you can’t reach someone? Would reaching a live answering service be enough? Alyssa Gregory had a post not too long ago about exactly this, and she recommended answering your phone as often as possible, with some very valid points noted.

I’ve taken a quick look at a couple of live answering services, and they aren’t too expensive, but in all honesty right now I get maybe 1-2 calls in a month from prospective clients. Most of my contact does come by email, even from possible clients.

I’d love to hear from other solo business owners how they handle the telephone issue. Are you able to answer your phone most of the time? Do you think voicemail is enough of an option when you aren’t free? Can’t wait to see what you think!

When I started my virtual legal assistant business, one thing I realized quite early on was how important systems would be to managing my work and my busy personal life. I have tried and discarded more than one system, but currently have a set-up that works quite well for me. I do have a few things I need to add, or improve, as I’m sure we all do!

First, I have a calendar system that helps me stay on track of both daily and long-term planning. I put everything into my Google Calendar, which being web-based is accessible from any of my computers and even my smartphone. I also sync that calendar with my iPod, for another easy source of access. Within my calendar itself I keep a task list with my immediate to-do’s on it. I also track longer term work on my project management and file-sharing system. I use Teamwork PM for this and clients can input deadlines for tasks and I have a project of my own where I put in some deadlines.

Another important system I set up very early on was a backup system. I have a couple of backup options available, as it certainly seems better to have my data as protected as possible! I share most client work with my clients via my Teamwork site, so documents that they have provided me and final work that I have provided them is all stored within that site (which is SSL encrypted). I store work on my computer of course and protect that information with SugarSync, a constantly running backup and storage application. SugarSync also allows me to access my files from my phone or another computer at any time, and keeps old versions of documents, which has helped me already once!

Another “system” I have invested in is my internet. I use the internet all the time, many of my work projects could not be completed without it. Therefore I have cable internet at home, I have an arrangement with a good friend to access internet from her home if I ever should need and I recently purchased a mobile internet stick for use while out and about or in case of a problem with my home internet.  In fact two nights ago my home internet was temporarily unavailable and it was reassuring to know how easily I could still log in and therefore fulfill my work obligations.

The main system I need to work on in 2010 is my methods for initial contact with prospective clients – right through to getting started working with clients who sign on. I have a good Contract for Services that I use, but it is important I think to make sure I learn as much about my clients as I can in the beginning instead of simply diving in and doing the work. I am going to put together a set of questions for new clients to be answered by email or phone within the first week of starting to work together, so that little concerns like which font they like work done in can be established easily. What systems help keep you on track? I love getting tips from other home office workers especially!

It’s definitely time for getting back to work. I had more email yesterday from clients than I think I had over the entire last 2 weeks of December! New projects starting up, catch-up work to do – basically just lots of interesting stuff going on!

I’m glad to be back on track, well, mostly. I did enjoy the quieter routine for the holiday season, it was so good to have the time to be with my family and to reflect on the past year. I did a fair bit of reading (novels and blogs – a good mix!) and feel full of ideas for my business this year.

Are you ready for this year? Did you get a chance to review the progress and projects you were involved with in 2009? I’ve taken a look back over last year and I feel good about how far I’ve come. My business is growing, clients send me referrals (incredibly rewarding!), my local network is really booming and my kids are beautiful and happy and I get to be here for them every day.

My plan for 2010 is to just keep moving in this same positive direction. I’m going to work even harder for my clients and try to make their lives even a little bit less busy. I’m going to expand my local marketing campaign and try to find more clients who like to work with digital dictation, as that is an area I’m loving so much! I’m also planning to add a team member who can cover for me during any vacation or illness and who can take on overflow work, as I’m finding that while overall I have plenty of time to assist my clients and even have time to take on more, occasionally I end up with so much work on one particular day that I work a bit too late into the night.

Happy 2010 to you all!

I’ve already had one or two clients ask about this, so I probably should have been on the ball sooner and shared my hours. I’m going to send out an email to all clients as well, but just to make sure potential clients are aware too, I’m posting the holiday “hours” for Halo Secretarial below:

Closed: Dec 24, Dec 25, Dec 26 and  Dec 31, Jan 1

As always, feel free to email questions anytime, but I won’t check my email too often over those two periods.  We’ll be entertaining a semi-large crowd for dinner on Christmas and of course it is just nice to spend time with family over the holidays!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Traditional planning/goal setting time may well be the beginning of January, but I actually think the beginning of December is a great time to set a day aside to start planning the upcoming year AND to review the past year to see if you’ve met your goals.

The review part of the process is especially important if, like many of us, it is your business year end on December 31. Have a look at your finances and expenses for the year. It may be a good time to make some last minute purchases (need a new computer?!) so that you can use the expenses against this year’s taxes. Also, you can evaluate if you have been paying enough tax, so that you can make appropriate deductions come January, instead of waiting until after you actually file your 2009 taxes in the spring.

December can typically be a very busy month, but it can also be slow in some aspects for your business. Many people are so busy with personal commitments that they aren’t producing as much volume of work, or they are taking downtime during the holidays so not as much marketing or networking is getting done. This means you may find yourself with a day here and there in December where you can sit down and start doing your planning for the upcoming year.

If you want to be able to hit the ground running come January 1st (okay – maybe January 2nd since you are probably sleeping in on January 1st!) have a look at this year end checklist or check out these suggestions. Think about what was the most successful business tool you implemented this past year (was it a process, a marketing technique, some type of hardware or software?) Think about what held you back in growing your business this past year. Look for some new networking opportunities for the new year. So many opportunities are out there waiting for us if we just plan for them and then grab them when we see them!

I’m going to set a deadline for myself of mid-December for my planning day – what about you? Got any ideas to share?