How a Virtual Assistant Can End Your Endless To-Do List

By Jennie Lyon / January 21, 2016
How a Virtual Assistant Can End Your Endless To Do List

We all know the feeling: your inbox is overflowing, you have a half dozen separate to-do lists, online, on paper, and on your smartphone or tablet. That doesn’t include the mental one you’re constantly updating. The endless seeming slog begins to creep in and make a job you were once passionate about into something you dread. It’s time you made some changes, don’t you think? For small business owners and entrepreneurs, dealing with the endless stream of tasks required to keep your operation not just afloat but productive, thriving, and successful can be especially difficult. There are only so many…

Read More

What does Partnering with a Virtual Assistant Really Mean? Why the Trend Towards Virtual Is Here to Stay

By Jennie Lyon / January 12, 2016
What does partnering with a virtual assistant really mean?

What’s your reaction when you hear the world “virtual assistant”? Do you think smart, strategic, cost effective, expertise, efficiency? Of, if you haven’t fully internalized the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant yet, is your gut reaction more along the lines of relinquishing control and even spending (unnecessary) money? If your associations are trusting, I get it. The idea of partnering a virtual assistant definitely requires an archetypal leap, particularly for entrepreneurs and small business owners who are used to doing everything themselves. The concept requires a shift in perspective in order to really understand why and how partnering with…

Read More

Take a Break After the Holidays to Launch Your Business to the Next Level

By Jennie Lyon / January 5, 2016

For many, the holiday season is a time to relax, be with family, and take a break from the ins and outs of the workplace. However, for small business owners and entrepreneurs, the holidays can be the busiest time of year. It’s an excellent time to reach out to clients, wish them good cheer, and keep them in the loop as to how your business is doing, and what you’re planning for the upcoming year. With all those potential customers and clients opening their wallets for Christmas, the stress of keeping them coming back can be a bit much. This…

Read More

The Difference Between Managing & Micro-Managing your Business

By Jennie Lyon / December 18, 2015
The Difference Between managing and Mirco Managing Your Business

Are you investing your energy in the right parts of your business? As a business owner and entrepreneur, of course it’s very important to be engaged in your business. However, there is a crucial distinction between managing the big picture to make sure that your business is growing and moving forward, and getting tied up in the nitty gritty day-to-day details. Micromanaging does not necessarily mean that you’re micromanaging a person; it could be that you’re micromanaging the business itself. Really, the way to be successful is to step away from the minutia to shift your perspective and priorities. Nobody…

Read More

Light Bulb! Realizing A Virtual Assistant Could Do It Better

By Jennie Lyon / December 11, 2015

Have you had that “aha” moment yet? You know the kind I’m talking about; that moment of sudden insight or discovery when you realize something important that shifts the entire paradigm of how you think and view an assumption? In this case, the light bulb moment that I’m talking about is one that’s so important for business owners and entrepreneurs – the realization that you can’t do it all yourself and, more importantly, there are actually people that could do some things even better than you can. The “aha” moment is about realizing your true value. At some point, we…

Read More

How Automation and Outsourcing Can Grow Your Business Overnight

By Jennie Lyon / December 4, 2015

Efficiency. Productivity. Sustainability. Growth. These are important buzz words for any business, and particularly for small business owners and entrepreneurs. We’ve all heard it before; time is money. When the repetitive day-to-day tasks take up your valuable time, all of your effort is being funneled into sustaining your business, rather than growing it. To really grow your business, make improvements and engage new clients, you must free yourself up from those repetitive tasks that are bogging you down. Luckily, technology has made it possible to seamlessly delegate and automate your repetitive business tasks, giving you more time to focus on…

Read More

4 Reasons Why a Virtual Assistant is the Key to Growing Your Business

By Jennie Lyon / November 20, 2015

As an entrepreneur, you are your most valuable asset. You are an expert in your field, and you’re great at what you do. You’re a high functioning and very capable individual and it’s natural that you’ll need to overcome the feeling that no one else can do the work as well as you could do it yourself. At some point you’ll overcome that hurdle and you’ll start to realize that your time is a limited resource and your biggest asset. The time will come when finding great help will be the only way for your business to expand and thrive…

Read More

Follow these 8 Steps to Get a Handle on your Calendar

By Jennie Lyon / November 13, 2015

How often do you look at the clock and wonder where the day has gone? How often do you look at the back-to-back blocks of bookings in your calendar and feel overwhelmed? In this busy digital age filled with the distractions of email, social media and apps, it’s easy for our days to become filled with tasks that distract from our potential productivity. Maybe your day becomes filled with administrative tasks that need to be done, but they aren’t the best use of your time. You might be too accessible, and your day is filled with too many email and telephone…

Read More

5 Steps to Prepare for a Successful Virtual Assistant Partnership

By Jennie Lyon / November 6, 2015

When the time comes to grow your business, partnering with a virtual assistant can be one of the most beneficial, life changing steps that you can take on the path to your entrepreneurial success. A well-matched virtual assistant should be like a business partner who is invested in the success of your business. Investing in the proper systems and making time for the on-boarding process can be the key to accomplishing your business goals. When you prepare and invest in the partnership with your virtual assistant, it can be like joining forces, increasing your productivity by more than 50%. When…

Read More

Top 4 Tools for Engaging in Meaningful Conversation on Social Media

By Jennie Lyon / October 30, 2015
Top 4 tools for engaging in meaninful conversation

The days of simply reading and liking social media posts are over. The most active and engaged social media users spend time asking questions, starting conversations about topics that are important to them, and sharing content that is meaningful to them. If your business wants to engage in meaningful conversation on social media, you need these top 4 tools. 1. Be Professional But Not StiffThink of social networking as virtual cocktail parties: charm, wit, and jokes are encouraged while maintaining professional boundaries and keeping the conversation relevant to all involved. There is an element to this type of conversation that…

Read More