Inspiration

Continuing Education

Posted by Laurie on Jun 24, 2010 in Inspiration | 2 comments

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!

Getting Back Into It for 2010

Posted by Laurie on Jan 5, 2010 in Inspiration | Comments Off

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!

Masterminds and Mentors

Posted by Laurie on Aug 25, 2009 in Entrepreneurial, Inspiration, virtual legal assistance | 2 comments

I’ve been thinking about becoming part of a Mastermind group or mentor/mentee relationship for some time now, and last night (when I should have been sleeping!) I read a great post from the Build a Solo Practice Blog over at Solo Practice University about why solo practitioners need a mastermind group. Whether you are a lawyer, a virtual assistant or any other kind of business owner, there are good options available for you. For example, if you are a virtual assistant there is a colleague I really respect, Alyssa Gregory, who has just started an intriguing looking program at VAHub, called the VAHub Club. Definitely worth looking into, especially if you are a new or aspiring VA!

I’ve personally looked at a variety of options for a mastermind group, ideally with other virtual legal assistants. There are some paid options, but my personal preference is for a small group with no fee, where everyone in the group would be treated as equals, although some members are likely to be more experienced than others.  I think a better group dynamic will be achieved without paying a fee. But I could be wrong and some people may not take it seriously without paying. Any thoughts from my wonderful readers on this topic?

I am definitely going to include this in my development plan – to help grow Halo Secretarial into my vision of what a virtual legal assistant business can be, a mastermind group surely can only help! Now, to figure out exactly how to get started…

Fitness Advice for Business

Posted by Laurie on Aug 24, 2009 in Inspiration | Comments Off

I’m starting a bit of a personal mission right now, to improve my health, and a couple of the books I’m reading  that are intended to give me advice on being a healthier person, actually have some great advice that is applicable whether you are concentrating on self-improvement, weight loss or growing your business. I love that ideas for one part of my life can really help me in other areas.

For example, one of the big pieces of advice was about positive affirmations. I know affirmations can be powerful. I’ve read about it before, but have not ever gone really far in implementing what I’ve read. Silly, huh? I work hard on growing my business, I believe in myself, but I need to go one step further. I’m adding some great affirmation blogs to my reader right now, and I’m going to have the right affirmations for me, and for Halo Secretarial, set by the end of this week.

This is going to be great!

Finally Friday

Posted by Laurie on Aug 14, 2009 in blogging, Inspiration | 1 comment

Well, I’ve done it! One week down with a post each and every day for Blawger Survivor. And that means I made it even longer than the host of the contest, lol.

So far it has been a great reminder of how useful and interesting blogging can be. And I have read some wonderful posts from the other entrants in the contest. A couple of my faves:

• The Haiku post at Leadership, Women, Lawyers (short and sweet)
• Orientate Me at No Reins Girl (love the attitude!)
• D. Jill Pugh’s post about privacy and social networks (makes great points)
• And best for last? I think so! The Nutmeg Lawyer’s post Canada is Trying to Kill Us is hilarious (especially to me as a Canadian!!)

Do take the time to enjoy some of these posts this weekend and see you Monday (I won’t forget to post of course, I’m organized, so it’s in my calendar!)

Outsourcing More Than Legal Assistant Tasks

Posted by Laurie on Aug 11, 2009 in Inspiration, Legal Practice, networking, virtual legal assistance | 2 comments

Last week I participated in a really interesting call with Laura Lee Sparks about outsourcing. Obviously I’m a fan of lawyers outsourcing work to a virtual legal assistant, but there are so many other ways to outsource and thus streamline your business and hopefully increase your revenue. In fact, as a virtual assistant there are tasks I should be outsourcing!!

Some great examples:

• Bookkeeping/billing
• Web site design
• Client intake
• Document drafting
• PR
• Call answering
• Court filings

I already do outsource some of my web design needs; I had neither the ability nor the desire to spend hours and hours trying to design a pretty logo for example! I also use an accountant to help me with my taxes and am working on training someone to assist me with transcription eventually. What tasks are you outsourcing and which ones do you think you *should* be outsourcing, but currently you are muddling along with?

Another point of the discussion on outsourcing addressed where to find good people to outsource to. You don’t want to waste time on in effective outsourcing after all! I realized I had never really considered it but even some tools are a way of outsourcing, like using Ruby Receptionist for call answering. And the best way to find help is of course to go to your network and ask for reliable references! Just yesterday I went to my Twitter peeps and asked for suggestions for one of my client’s needs and quickly hooked her up.

Speaking of Twitter, I have noticed in checking out my Blawger Survivor companions and many of them have Twitter feeds in their sidebars – love it! Check the feeds out at  Two Lawyers in a Pod[Cast], The Connecticut Employment Law Blog,  Leadership, Women, Lawyers, No Reins Girl.   Twitter is my biggest online network and I love how involved so many lawyers seem to be getting in it. Okay, and I love that clients have found me on Twitter too!!