Are you investing in your time or just spending it?

Outsourcing, Time management0 comments

I came across a quote the other day from Stephen Covey, the author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It said “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it”.

It got me thinking about how much we actually invest in our time and how much we just spend it. There is a difference.

We can easily give ourselves a big long ‘to do’ list and then happily spend time being busy while we work our way through it. However, being busy doesn’t mean that we’re being effective. That ‘to do’ list may just contain tasks that we like doing but are not really taking us anywhere. So we are busy but we’re busy on the wrong things.

Obviously if you’re running your own business, you could think of this literally by multiplying your hourly rate with the amount of time you spend on non-fee earning projects. This is certainly a good exercise if you’re thinking of outsourcing as it shows you how much some tasks are costing you by doing them yourself.

Investing in your time though is not just about money. It’s also about using the time you have more effectively so you’re focused on doing the right things. These are things that will help you and your business to grow, and which will move you towards your goals and what you want to achieve in life. This can be anything from learning a new skill to getting your business to a level where it can run without you.

So take a look at your ‘to do’ list and see if the tasks on it are important or not. For each task, ask yourself the question: “Would it make any difference to my goals whether I did this task or not?”. If the answer is no, then delete it or at least put it as a low priority.

By investing more of your time rather than just spending it, you will feel less stressed and more fulfilled as you find yourself achieving quicker results in your business and personal life.
 

If you want to get more tips on how to manage your time and work effectively in your business, then download a copy of our guide “How to organise your workload so there’s more time for you“. This guide is packed full of time management tips as well as 10 online tools to help you work more productively. Click on the link to download the guide >> How to organise your workload
 

7 Steps to Working Smarter in Your Business

Organisation, Time management0 comments

I recently read about a survey from Yorkshire Bank that said that small business owners work an average of 15.3 million extra days each year, in comparison to the average UK employee.  They are working long hours and taking few breaks just so they can look after their clients and keep the business going.

However, regularly working such long hours can seriously affect your physical and mental health.   We all need to recognise the importance of working smarter in our business and investing our time in our mental and physical well-being.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your workload and have got to the point where you seriously need to take time out, then here are 7 steps to help you work smarter and have more time for you.

• Have a specific plan which contains clear goals as to where you and your business are going.  Don’t forget to add personal goals on there as well to help maintain your work/life balance.

• Review your plan regularly and see what tasks have not been done.  Ask yourself whether they are important or not.  If they are important then make a decision to do them or delegate them.  If not then ditch them and move on.

• Block time out in your diary.  Don’t accept every meeting request you get as you’ll end up feeling burnt out and overloaded with work.  Set aside at least 1-2 hours a day in your schedule so you can spend time focused on your projects and what you need to do to achieve your goals.

• Don’t automatically say yes.  It’s easy to say yes to every job you get offered, perhaps because you need the work or don’t want to let people down.   However, you could find that you end up doing work that you hate or working with people that you don’t get on with.  This will just leave you feeling stressed and exhausted so judge each request as it comes in.

• Delegate or outsource non-fee earning tasks.  This gives you more free time to focus on what you do best and what’s important for your business.  If you’re on a tight budget then see if you can barter with someone whose services you need.

• Clear the clutter.  If you find that you’re drowning in paperwork and spend too much time hunting around for files and folders, then take a day out to declutter.  If you find this too overwhelming, then just focus on one part of your paperwork and either throw out what you don’t need or put it into a proper filing system that works for you.  If you’re not naturally organised then bring in someone to help you.

• Set strict working hours and stick to them.  It’s easy to keep going when you’re running your own business, especially if you work from home.  But you can easily lose focus and start to feel demotivated if you try to work long hours without a break.  So set a time when you switch off at night and share this publicly with everyone you work with.

These are just a few measures that you can take to help you work smarter.  By investing your time wisely, you will achieve your goals far more quickly, feel energised and motivated and find that you have more time for yourself.
 

If you want to get more tips on how to manage your time and work effectively in your business, then download a copy of our guide “How to organise your workload so there’s more time for you“. This guide is packed full of time management tips as well as 10 online tools to help you work more productively. Click on the link to download the guide >> How to organise your workload
 

How a Virtual Assistant Can Help You with Video Marketing

Online marketing, Virtual Assistant0 comments

Another blog in my series on how virtual assistants can help you to promote your business, and this one is about video marketing.

Now video marketing is becoming an increasingly popular way for small businesses to promote their services or products.  If you’re like me and running a business on your own, then it’s a great way for people to get to know the person behind the brand.  In fact, I’ve recently started to put some videos together – mainly short screencast tutorials – which I will be sharing shortly.

So if you are someone who would like to use video marketing but don’t have the time or skills to set everything up, then here are 5 ways that a virtual assistant can help you to manage and promote your videos.

Research appropriate equipment and software.  One of the first things you need to consider is getting the right equipment to shoot your video.  This will include camera and microphone, and possibly lighting and screen.  A virtual assistant can research and recommend appropriate equipment based on your needs and budget.  They can also suggest software to edit your videos whether you are recording head shots of you talking to camera or recording your computer screen for tutorials.

Help with editing.  Once you have got your video recorded then it can be time consuming to edit the video and add in the appropriate titles etc.  A virtual assistant can do this for you with your directions.  So they can add or remove audio and visuals as required, add captions and call outs to sections of the video, and cursor and zoom effects when you want to highlight a particular point.

Make it look professional.  To make your video look really professional then it’s a good idea to add intro music and a title both before and after the main content.  A virtual assistant can research and add appropriate music, titles and graphic effects to the video which will help to promote your brand.

Promote video.  Once you’ve made your video then you obviously want people to see it!  A virtual assistant can set up a channel for you on YouTube, complete with your company details and branding.  They can upload videos and add tags so they appear in the search results.  They can then promote the videos via social media and email marketing so they get the highest visibility and ranking on YouTube, as well as submitting them on video promotion sites such as TubeMogul and Traffic Geyser.

Video blogging.  Another way to use video is to create video blogs (or vlogs).  If you’re someone who blogs a lot then you can shoot a short video which is related to the blog.  The virtual assistant can then upload the video on to YouTube with a link to the blog post, and add a link to the video on your blog.  This creates traffic both to your blog/website and to your YouTube channel so dramatically increases your online profile. 

Although you could do all the above yourself, by outsourcing the technical and promotional tasks you can focus on the marketing message you want to get across so that you can maximise the results from your video marketing activities.

Take a holiday on us!

Small business, Time management, Virtual Assistant0 comments

After speaking to some business owners recently, it seems that there are quite a few who won’t be taking a holiday over the summer period.  In fact, many people feel that they are not in a position to take a break because without them, their business would not survive.  However, in order to fully achieve personal and financial freedom from your business, it needs to be able to exist without you actually being there.  This can be something that a lot of people struggle with in the early days but one of the first steps is to start outsourcing those essential but non-fee earning tasks, such as admin and book keeping.

So if you are now feeling that your business is running you rather than the other way round, here are 5 ways a virtual assistant can give you the freedom to take a break from your business.

Manage your team.  If your business is made up of a team based in various locations then a virtual assistant can liaise with them while you’re away.  With your instructions, they can co-ordinate team activities to ensure that they stay on track and deadlines are being met.

Manage your clients.   One of the main things that a lot of business owners worry about when they’re away is ensuring that their clients are being properly looked after.  A virtual assistant can handle enquiries or issues via phone or email, or forward them to another member of the team.  They can also keep a record of client activities on a CRM system so you can track of what’s been happening.

Manage updates.  Having a holiday can result in a hiatus with your marketing activity.  If you’ve spent time building up an online following you don’t want to suddenly “disappear” for 2-3 weeks.  A virtual assistant can continue to post important business-related updates to Twitter and Facebook while you’re away, as well as schedule your regular blog posts.  They can also keep your contacts up to date with the latest news or promotions by sending out newsletters or updating your website.

Manage projects.  Don’t put off your holiday just because you’ve got a project or event coming up.  For example, a virtual assistant can handle many aspects of your events, such as liaising with attendees and speakers, organising the venue, handling enquiries, dealing with bookings and payment.

Manage your payments.  You don’t have to stop getting paid just because you’re on holiday.  A virtual assistant can raise and send out invoices to your clients and chase up payment as necessary.  They can also manage your expenses and reconcile your expenditure and income with your bank statement.  This means that you can keep the cash flowing in your business and return to a healthy bank balance!

By having a virtual assistant to manage and oversee your business while you’re on holiday, you can take out some of the worry about being away from your business.  You may need to be contacted during your absence but by having one person managing the process and keeping you up to date, you can keep the disruption to your holiday at a minimum.

7 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Manage Your Social Media

How to, Online marketing, Small business, Virtual Assistant0 comments

I find that when I go out to networking events, I meet a lot of people who want to use social media to promote their business, but they feel that it’s a total waste of time.

Now as a business owner myself, I do know how precious time is!  But I also know how effective social media can be for small businesses.  The only thing you need is commitment and sometimes people just don’t want to take that step.  Because as we all know, once you get started with any kind of online marketing, you can’t just stop.  An out of date Twitter or Facebook account looks worse than not having one at all.

So if  you’ve been thinking about dipping your toe into social media but have seen it as another drain on your time, here are 7 ways that a virtual assistant can manage your social media activities for you.

Set up your Twitter and Facebook accounts. A virtual assistant can set up your profiles correctly so that  you are projecting a professional image to your contacts.  This includes designing a Facebook page with a profile image that matches your company branding.  As well as creating custom tabs to attract people to like your page which can include a sign up box or a video as appropriate.

Manage your LinkedIn profile. If you’re a B2B business then LinkedIn is an essential part of your social media marketing.  A virtual assistant can ensure that your LinkedIn profile looks professional and can add SEO so that it appears in search results.  They can also make your profile stand out by adding applications such as video, blogs, presentations etc, as well as search for any contacts you want to be introduced to and manage invitation requests.

Promote offers and events. If you have a workshop or special offer that you want to promote, then a virtual assistant can schedule details about these to your Twitter and Facebook accounts.  They can also set up a hashtag to track and handle any comments or enquiries from your followers related to the event or promotion.

Manage your followers. It’s not a good idea to follow everyone who follows you on Twitter as you could end up following spammers.  However, it can be very time consuming to check every time someone follows you to see if you want to follow them back.  A virtual assistant can do this for you and decide on whether to follow them based on criteria given by you.

Track keywords and conversations. A great way to raise your profile and build relationships on social media is to track discussions around subjects that are related to your business so you can respond to any comments or questions with tips and advice.  A virtual assistant can research keywords for you and set up search streams for these keywords on either HootSuite or TweetDeck.

Manage your blog. Blogging is a great way to share your knowledge and promote your authority. A virtual assistant can design a blog on WordPress, research content online based on relevant keywords or topics, and publish the blog so it automatically posts on your social media profiles.

Video marketing. This is becoming an increasingly popular way of promoting your business online.  A virtual assistant can upload your videos on to YouTube, add appropriate keywords and promote via your social media accounts or video sharing sites such as TubeMogul.

By outsourcing the set up and management of your social media activity to a virtual assistant, you can focus on raising your profile, promoting your authority and building relationships with your online contacts, which over time will start to generate leads for your business.