Michigan VAs

As an entrepreneur and business owner, you started out loving what you do. The job is exciting, you’re passionate about your work. Why else would you work so hard for such long periods of time?

Long term, you can’t maintain that initial start up pace or you’ll eventually face burnout. You’ll become tired and find yourself buried in tiny tasks required to accomplish the big picture. The tasks you’ll no longer enjoy doing.

If you let yourself get to this point, you’ll lose the passion for your business.

Consider delegating BEFORE you’re buried.

As you work on your business, contemplate the steps you’re performing and evaluate the following:

• Do I enjoy doing this?
• Is this task part of my skill set? Will I spend a lot of time learning how to complete this task rather than doing it?
• Is this the best use of my time? Could I be earning more money or would I be happier and more efficient performing a different task?
• If I don’t enjoy this task, how much time do I waste avoiding it?
• What are the steps I perform so I could pass all or a portion of of this task onto someone else?
• What type of skills would someone need to complete this task effectively?

If you evaluate your tasks before you’re desperate for help, you’ll be halfway to actual delegation. Too many of our clients come to us when they are overwhelmed and too busy to slow down to determine HOW they want us to help them.

You may even consider delegating smaller tasks BEFORE you actually require help. This way, when the need to delegate is critical, you’ve already tested and found a reliable assistant who is ready, willing and CAPABLE of delivering the results you expect.

And if you’re already buried? Call me, I’ve got a shovel.

Our friends Cindy Greenway and Tina Forsyth are offering
the first ever Publicity Specialist training program via
HotSkillsVATraining.com.  Lead by
publicity expert Diana Ennen, this 3 week program has been designed to provide
Virtual Assistants with the skills, understanding and strategies needed to
execute effective publicity campaigns.

 

Submitting articles and press releases here and there
isn’t enough and contacting the media, when you really don’t know what to say
or how to present yourself can be intimidating. 
However, master these skills and develop a plan, and you (and your
clients) will be sure to be rewarded with great results.

 

To date there are very few Virtual Assistants who
specialize in the area of publicity, yet business owners everywhere are
desperately searching for support in this area. 
A Virtual Assistant that can provide this support is sure to have
clients knocking at her door who are willing to pay a generous rate.

 

And in addition, a Virtual Assistants who can provide
this service to other business owners, can certainly build on her own
publicity!  All strategies can be applied
to a VA business as well!

 

This program starts Monday, January 25th — http://bit.ly/Hotskills

Weary from years of researching, testing and abandoning software solutions that did not meet the rigorous standards we so desperately needed to help our geographically dispersed work team function more cohesively, I approached ZOHO Projects with skepticism. What I found surprised me. ZOHO Projects is an easy to use and full featured, yet cost-effective project management and collaboration software solution that delivers more value than one might expect.

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Let’s face it, if you’re the person who can create lofty goals without breaking them down into smaller tasks to accomplish, you are in the minority.

Each day is a bite-sized piece of my larger plan.

Recently, you may have made some New Year’s resolutions. Or like me, you may have chosen not to. I make goals. Annual goals. Then I break them down into plate sized chunks and then again into bite-sized pieces. Depending on the type of goal, I may also start with bite-sized pieces until I build the plate and eventually meet the larger goal. Either way, it’s the daily achievement of the small pieces that creates the end result.

Daily goals, when realistically set, also stop those feelings of overwhelm that easily discredit your efforts.

The behaviorist in me knows those daily goals should be easily achievable in order for you to WANT to reproduce your efforts. You know what that means? Ensure successful completion!

My coaching partner at the Golden Apple Center for Inner Excellence suggested, “Pad your schedule for shit happens time.” It was some of the best advice I’ve received to date.

If creating a plan and failing to achieve those daily goals is frustrating, remember to pad your time for rush hour traffic, last minute deadlines or surprises. At the beginning of each day, prioritize your tasks and decide which ones can be shuffled to tomorrow’s list, if necessary.

Hold yourself accountable but give yourself a break when needed.

You will be far more productive if you include downtime, personal time and family time in your daily plan. They are important to your success and well being – make time for them!

Plan to succeed!

If you work your time management plan to ensure the achievement your daily goals, the success quickly builds to effectuate your long term goals.

I was catching up on my backlog of reading the other day and came across this article in the December 2009 edition of Inc.  Its about the latest craze in attending conferences – The Unconference.  What the heck is an Unconferece?

Basically its a traditional conference, except there are no pre-determined topics nor speakers.  Those in attendance determine what is going to be talked about.  Now, there are some logistics involved, but the  bottom line is – the participants toss out ideas, questions, theory's, etc. and then someone steps up to be the facilitator of that session. 

I think this is a great conccept and would love to attend one if they are ever in my area.

To read more, go to – http://www.inc.com/magazine/20091201/welcome-to-the-unconference.html

How about you? Have you ever gone to an Unconference?

This is the first installment in a Tuesday’s Time Saving Tips Series. The time saving tips will focus on ways you can become more productive, whether it’s through technology, business knowledge or office and home organization. They’ll be short and to the point – because that will save you time reading!

The first time saving tip should be obvious…

How Can a Virtual Assistant Free Up Your Time?

The ultimate purpose of hiring a virtual assistant is to free up your time for what’s truly important in your life. Here are the top five reasons my clients use my Virtual Assistant services:

1. They are able to focus on the part of their business that brings them joy and money.
2. They have more free time to spend with loved ones.
3. They spend less time trying to complete tasks that are not in their area of expertise.
4. They spend less time trying to find the right person to complete a particular task. If I can’t do it, I know someone who can.
5. I stay on top of technology and business trends so I can share the key information with my clients which keeps them on top of trends in their business.

Can you use a little more time?

65 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Michigan
plant gardens.

60 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Michigan
sunbathe.

50 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Michigan
drive with the windows down..

40 above zero:
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Michigan
throw on a flannel shirt.

35 above zero:
New York
landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Michigan
have the last cookout before it gets cold.

20 above zero:
People in Miami
all die.
Michiganders close the windows.

Zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Michigan
get out their winter coats.

10 below zero:
Hollywood
disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Michigan
are selling cookies door to door.

20 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Michigan
let the dogs sleep indoors.

30 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Michiganders get upset because they can't start the Snowmobile.

40 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops.
People in Michigan
start saying…'Cold enough fer ya?'

50 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Lions win the Super Bowl