productivity and organization

Simple Is Best When It Comes To Task Management for Your VA Business

Are you looking for a simple organizational system to manage your tasks for your Virtual Assistant clients and your own business? If you find yourself running out of time or forgetting about things you were supposed to do, you may need a better task management system. People often ask me how I stay organized. I guess I look like I’ve got it all together LOL. But I assure you, that’s not always the case! I do have a great system in place, though, and it has worked well for me for many years.   Working with multiple VA clients, we can often lose focus and the priorities can shift from hour to hour. So I have a tip for you that… Read More »Simple Is Best When It Comes To Task Management for Your VA Business

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Time Management Tips for Virtual Assistants

If you’re anything like me, you have at some point come to the end of a day and still had a million things on your task list. What do you do when you run out of time but still have a million things to do? I get all kinds of answers to this question when I ask it – sometimes you push through and keep working till it’s done. Sometimes you break for dinner and then work into the night to get it done. Sometimes you get up early the next morning and get it done. And then you do it all over again the next day. But if this happens to you on a regular basis, then it’s not… Read More »Time Management Tips for Virtual Assistants

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Time Tracking: Don’t Waste Your Client’s Money

I recently had a revelation about Virtual Assistants and how they track time. I talk to a lot of VAs in my circles and one of the biggest discussions remains how much to charge for something. The answer to that is usually centred around how long it takes you to complete a task – whether you are quoting an hourly rate or a package rate. But I didn’t really stop to think about the vast parameters of that thought: how long it takes you to complete a task. What I realized is that everyone works at a different speed. And there is nothing wrong with that. But are you working at the RIGHT speed? If you aren’t, you could be… Read More »Time Tracking: Don’t Waste Your Client’s Money

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My Housecleaner is Back! And More Lessons About Communication

A few months ago I wrote to you about my longtime housecleaner retiring, which meant that we needed to replace her. How hard could that be, we thought? 🙂 We brought in someone new and expected her to be able to do things the way our previous cleaner had. But we didn’t help her very much, by giving her clear enough instructions. I made a strange (I realize now it was strange) assumption that the new girl would be able to seamlessly take over for the other one. She did not. Long story short (you can read it here),  it didn’t work out with the new girl. But the good news is that when I called our old cleaner to get… Read More »My Housecleaner is Back! And More Lessons About Communication

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How to Onboard Clients (the Right Way!)

First impressions matter, in every relationship – but especially in business. When a client has paid you money or agreed to work with you, their expectations kick into gear immediately. If you aren’t providing a great first impression, you could be losing a bit of your client’s trust before you even start working together. Have you developed a great onboarding process for your new clients? If you haven’t, I have some great tips for you. Your process for onboarding clients should be all about clarity and communication. 1. Send a welcome letter or email. Once a client agrees to work with you, clearly outline what comes next for them. Be succinct in your emails – try not to get too… Read More »How to Onboard Clients (the Right Way!)

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Are you doing too much?

When it comes to running your business, are you doing too much? Too much networking. Too much marketing. Too much project management. Too much time tracking. Too much research. Your time comes into play in every aspect of your business. The fact is that we all have the same amount of time (168 hours a week!), but it’s how we use that time that makes or breaks our efforts, no matter what we are doing. One of the mistakes I see Virtual Assistants make all the time is cramming a lot of stuff into a short period of time. For instance, when we talk about networking, they will say they spend hours a day connecting with people. When we talk… Read More »Are you doing too much?

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Are You Just Wasting Your Time?

Do you ever look up at the end of a day and wonder where the time went? Losing time is very common for Virtual Assistants – and anyone who works on their own, or from their home. With no one around but us, it can be easy to start a task and not really keep track of where the time has gone. I’m not really talking about client work – if you aren’t keeping track of that, that’s bad! I’m talking about when you are not working on client work. Maybe you are on social media, maybe you are writing blog posts or creating content. Many VAs I know do not set blocks of time to get these types of… Read More »Are You Just Wasting Your Time?

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Do This 3 Times a Day and Watch Your Productivity Soar

Do you get to the end of every day and still have a long list of things to do?  Or worse, do you work later than you planned too often because you still have so much to do at the end of your day? Have you ever considered why that happens? We often blame it on our task lists being too long to start with … but it’s probably not that at all. When you regularly run out of time before your daily tasks are completed, first check how much you are putting on your to-do list. If it should have been manageable enough, then it’s time to look at exactly how you are spending your time every day. Manage your schedule instead… Read More »Do This 3 Times a Day and Watch Your Productivity Soar

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