When partnering with a virtual assistant to streamline your business, you want to make the most of the time you’re paying them for. There are a number of useful tools for organizing your virtual team that can help you streamline your partnership with your virtual assistant. These range from materials you can create yourself, to apps and websites for project or schedule management. Some of the ones I use in my business are listed below, along with other suggestions to make your life easier when partnering with a virtual assistant. Procedure ManualsI’ve written about procedure manuals before in more detail,…
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Regardless of whether you’re running a small business from home, working in shared office space, or still sitting in a cubicle at a large company, having an organized work space is beneficial for both your mood and your productivity. Creating a focused, inspiring, energizing work space is important if you want to be industrious during the work day and have efficient workflow. A messy, disorganized, distracting work space will draw your attention away from the important tasks at hand, make you more prone to procrastinate, and cause low-level anxiety which is counterproductive to accomplishing your goals each day. [Tweet “Workplace…
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The new year is well underway, and hopefully your business plans for the year are too. If you’ve been running your business for some time now, it’s easy to get comfortable doing things exactly the same way year in and year out. However, this comfort can be what leads to small businesses stagnating and ultimately failing to grow and scale themselves. If you’re worried that you might be taking the easy route and not doing enough to keep your business fresh and relevant to the current market conditions and customer needs, it might be time to consider looking for professional…
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There are so many little details that go into running a small business that it can be hard to keep track of as a new business owner. Knowing what you have in place already and what still needs to be done to keep your business properly organized and running smoothly is key for sustainable success. With that in mind, today we have a checklist of things you should have dealt with either when setting up your business initially, or on a yearly basis. Have you completed all of these? If so, congratulations — that’s a huge accomplishment that you should…
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“Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life.”Easy words, but infinitely more difficult in practice. No matter how much you enjoy your job, there will always be stresses, problems, conflicts, and setbacks. At times, you might even find yourself asking the question “Why do I do this again?”. Thankfully, you can have a fresh start whenever you like and with it comes the opportunity to refocus on what you love about your job and make positive changes to minimize unnecessary stresses in the future. [Tweet “Delegation and outsourcing are the key to finding more…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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