home office tips

Managing Distractions While Working From Home as a VA

If your productivity is starting to suffer as a Virtual Assistant, you may want to have a look at what is distracting your focus. Right now we are in the throes of Coronavirus, and many Virtual Assistants I know suddenly have a house full of people that aren’t usually present during our work days. Is that you? If so, I’ve got some suggestions for you that might help. Managing distractions is a big issue when you are in situations that you aren’t used to, but you may also need these tips if you struggle with distractions even when no one else is around! Here are 10 things to look at if distractions are affecting your productivity: 1. Dedicated Office Space… Read More »Managing Distractions While Working From Home as a VA

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How To Take Time Off From Your VA Business

Is your VA business set up for the unexpected? I recently had to take some personal time away from my business. I had no notice – it was a family emergency – and I had to be off right away. There will be a time in your business when you need to be off – whether unexpectedly or planned – hello, vacation? –  🙂 When we first start our business, we often don’t think of this until we need it. That’s normal. So if you have not got yours set up yet, here are a few tips for you: 1. Write everything down. Build procedures for each of the tasks that you perform in your business. Write them down and… Read More »How To Take Time Off From Your VA Business

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Favourite Tools for VAs: Office 365

Office 365 is one of the indispensable tools that I use in my business. Almost everyone uses a software package like this in our line of business, and when I discovered Office 365 I bought it and never looked back at an actual program install again! Office 365 Business costs only about $10 / month and you get desktop and web versions of all of the MS Office Suite of products for web and mobile. The versions are always kept up to date, and you can install on 5 devices for that price. It’s crazy! And you get 1 TB of storage space online too – so everything is in the cloud and you can access anything you need anywhere. So… Read More »Favourite Tools for VAs: Office 365

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Here’s An Idea For You

Summer has come to an end, at least the actual ‘days off from school’ part of summer. So that means that everyone is getting back to business as usual. Do you work summer hours? I know many VAs who do, and it can be hard to get back into the routine when the fall hits. We are used to getting up late, maybe a reduced workload, perhaps shorter office hours. Leaping back in can be a shock to the system. So I have an idea for you. Why try to get ‘back’ into your old routine? Why not actually form some new ones? Growing in your business only comes from change, and the first one you can change is your… Read More »Here’s An Idea For You

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Taking Care of You, the CEO of Your Business!

Your Virtual Assistant business depends on you as a service professional. Your clients buy you. Your work, generally speaking, gets done by you. You are the CEO, so all decisions are made by you. If you are not working at near 100%, your business suffers. Your clients suffer. Your bank account suffers. So why aren’t you taking better care of yourself? This past week I was lucky to attend a VA conference. There were about 70 of us who descended on Myrtle Beach to share ideas, learn, teach and generally build relationships. It was a fabulous conference – one of the best ones I have ever been to. The women who come to it are real friends – they understand… Read More »Taking Care of You, the CEO of Your Business!

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What Are You Tolerating?

I attended a Virtual Assistant conference several years ago and I listened to Mary Lou Ashton speak about tolerations. It was one of those talks that stays with you, at least it stayed with me. I refer to it all the time when I am in conversation with people who are struggling to focus and move forward in their business. Tolerations are those things that are around you that you probably don’t even consciously notice. A toleration can be a broken step as you walk into your house, or an unfolded basket of laundry, or dishes on the counter, or an unanswered email, or a stack of filing that needs to be done. A toleration is something that you notice,… Read More »What Are You Tolerating?

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10 Tips to Help You Include Down Time in Your Life

One of the places that many small business owners get trapped in is the ‘working all the time’ syndrome. It is a big job to run your own business, and there is no question there is always something that needs doing. But if Jack Nicholson taught us anything, it’s that all work and no play is not a good thing. You can’t bring your best brain and your best attitude to your business unless you are certain to make time to step away from it to recharge. By taking time for yourself – whether it’s to physically care for yourself, or just to do something that inspires you and lifts your spirits, ‘down time’ is a great thing to be… Read More »10 Tips to Help You Include Down Time in Your Life

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The Never Ending Balancing Act

As a business owner, no doubt you have had some experience trying to balance your home and work lives at some point. The key to doing this well is to put some rules in place that you follow, and that others follow as well. For work-life balance there can sometimes be a fine line that needs to be amplified – so you don’t lose sight of what’s important at that time. On the one hand, you want to be sure that you don’t immerse yourself in work every waking hour of the day. My son has seen me using the laptop while we watch TV at night and he asks, ‘Mom are you working?’ but I’m really just on my… Read More »The Never Ending Balancing Act

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