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Work Inspiration
Some days you just feel unmotivated and uninspired. Time for an inspiring quote:
Work is love made visible.
And if you can’t work with love
but only with distaste, it is
better that you should leave
your work and sit at the gate
of the temple and take alms
of the people who work with joy.
-Kahlil Gibran
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Happy New Year from Halo
Wishing a wonderful 2012 to all my clients, colleagues and blog readers!
I’m looking forward to a great 2012. 2011 was truly a successful year for Halo Secretarial Services, with several new clients and an increased dedication to taking on only lawyer clients, to allow me to truly practice my specialty of legal virtual assistance. I initiated working with my first subcontractor (a fabulous VLA based locally in Alberta), started using a treadmill desk and worked hard to find balance between my wonderful work and my amazing family. I can’t wait to see how much more can be done in 2012.
image “New Year” by Flickr user Sally Mahoney, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 license. Read More
Halo Secretarial Website and Blog Changes
One of my goals working towards 2012 (as decided after working through some thoughts shared in my recent newsletter!) is to update my website and blog. I try to make the necessary fundamental changes on a regular basis (such as elimination or addition of services, changes to rates, etc) but now I’m due for an overhaul of the visual aspect of the sites. This means there may be a few glitchy moments here and there or times when the site is not available, but hopefully I can keep the disruptions to a minimum and get it all beautiful and fresh before the new year begins. After all, what a great way to spend time over the quieter holiday season than updating my site 
photo © gunnar3000 – Fotolia.com
Read MoreSharing my December Newsletter
Hope everyone has had a wonderful fall and is ready for the upcoming winter/holiday season. Fall was a bit difficult here at Halo Secretarial, it involved a flu, then pneumonia, then a never-ending cough. I kept up with my work mostly (and was very appreciative of a couple of patient clients!) but it was a bit more challenging than fall usually is.
I just sent out my most recent newsletter today and wanted to share the text here for anyone who hasn’t subscribed yet. Enjoy!
2012 is Coming
‘Tis the season for planning!
I turned the last page of my calendar today – the first day of December is always a wake-up call of sorts, isn’t it? Time to finish planning for the holidays, time to gather year-end paperwork and most importantly, time to make goals and set expectations for the coming year.
I know 2012 is going to be a busy year, for me and for Halo Secretarial, so I’m starting my planning right now. Here are some of the things I’m going to address in my planning, and I wanted to share, as I hope they can help you with your plans:
- Do you have enough help?
- Do you need more administrative assistance, better bookkeeping services, more childcare?
- What big ticket items do you need to purchase in 2012 so you can budget accordingly?
- Do you need to raise your fees, lower them or leave them as is?
- When are you going to do your big marketing campaigns for the year?
- Do you have any clients you need to stop working with?
- How do your personal goals match up with the timelines for your business objectives this year?
- Are your systems up to date?
- What kinds of training or learning activities do you want to participate in?
- Are you going to attend any conferences?
This list is helping me get started – so I better head back to my desk and work though my options. Happy Holidays to you all and cheers to an amazing 2012 for us all!
Read MoreVacation and the Virtual Legal Assistant
Working from home allows me a lot of flexibility in the summer – I work in the mornings and often take the mid-late afternoon off to hit a park with the kids, go on a bike ride or just veg in the swing in the backyard. But working for myself has meant I don’t take a lot of extended time off from working. Last summer I took a week to travel to BC with my husband and kids, but I took my laptop along and spent time on the drive and every day doing some work. I didn’t mind and with a little one who still needed a bit of a nap, it was pretty manageable. This summer though we were extremely fortunate and won a trip to Orlando (thanks again YummyMummyClub!) We were only gone for five business days, but I actually decided to leave the laptop at home and truly take my first full vacation since opening Halo Secretarial up close to three years ago.
I worked extra hours before and after the vacation to make sure I was keeping on top of several projects, and I gave all my current clients plenty of notice, but I still felt bad about taking the time off. It’s definitely one of the biggest struggles in owning a small business – managing your personal needs with your desire to give 110% to your clients. Now, more than a week after returning from Florida (which was awesome by the way) I read a blog post over at Lawyerist about Vacation and realized a benefit of my vacation I hadn’t even considered. While I enjoyed the time away from my computer, I missed my work. I missed the rush of urgent projects and the conversations with colleagues. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones with a career that I truly enjoy and vacation helps me to appreciate just how much I do love what I do. Thank goodness I don’t find myself wishing to be in a car accident to avoid my work (especially since I don’t have to drive to work, lol, not much chance of a car accident on the way upstairs to my office). My work life balance is still not perfect, and some days I wish for a couple of extra hours, but overall, being a virtual legal assistant has been a dream come true – I hope all of my readers, colleagues and clients are able to say the same!
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