AirSet – A Survival Kit for Busy People

If you have been looking for a way to organize your home, your business, your life – look no further than AirSet (www.airset.com).

I have been using AirSet now for about three months and it is an amazing program! AirSet is a free, open source program that allows you to share calendars, contacts, files and lists with your team; coordinate work & home from one place and can sync with Microsoft Outlook, Palm or your mobile phone. Here’s a little information about each component of AirSet.

Calendar – You can add as many “groups” as you wish and color-code them. These could include Personal, Business, Family, Soccer, Church, etc. You are also able to share these with others who you specify as members of each group. It allows single events and recurring events and you can set two separate reminders for each event. You can share the calendar by either emailing it to the members or they can just log in on their own computer and see the calendars. You can set preferences as to who can make changes and updates. You can choose to view the calendar in Daily view, Weekly view, Monthly view, Yearly view or Organizer view. You can also set it up to send your daily Organizer to your email each morning so you can see at a glance all appointments and To-Dos and better prepare for your day.

To-Do Lists – You can make To-Do Lists for each group. You can set up tasks for each of your projects and set due dates, status, priorities, notes and even sort to your own preference.

Contacts – These too can be sorted into groups and color-coded. There are fields for contact info, special info, email addresses and they can be set for certain categories.

Blog – You can add a blog to keep the members informed of project updates and changes. Or maybe you just want to keep your soccer players up-to-date on who’s headed for the play-offs. You decide what you’d like on your blog and who can view it.

Links – There’s a place to add all your favorite links, whether they be personal or business.

Sync – All of this information can be shared, emailed or synced with Microsoft Outlook, Palm and your mobile phone (for a small monthly fee).

This is an amazing, free program. It is simple enough for the novice user but has all the bells and whistles needed for large businesses. I would definitely recommend this software for your organizing needs.

 

Vickie

Daylight Savings Time Could Greatly Affect your Calendaring Soon

Did you know that daylight savings time is changing at a different time this year? Normally, you “spring forward” on the first Sunday in April and “fall back” on the last Sunday in October. But because of a Congressional Act passed in 2005, you will “spring forward” on March 11 and “fall back” on November 4 this year. And this could cause major issues for those of you who are responsible for calendaring management for your clients, especially between March 11 and April 1 (the old and new starting DST dates) and between October 28 and November 4 (the old and new ending DST dates).

If you or your clients have Windows Vista, you will not be affected by this change. If you or your clients use Microsoft Outlook 2003 or older, there is an update tool you can download that will automatically update a person’s calendar to the new daylight savings time rules.

If you choose not to install the Windows updates and run the Time Zone Data Update Tool, then during the extended DST period (the dates between the old beginning and ending dates and the new beginning and ending dates), your Outlook appointments and reminders will appear one hour off. Any all-day events will shift and span two days because these events are associated with 24 specific hours rather than an individual date.

Microsoft suggests that you run the Update tool manually anytime after the Windows time zone definitions have been updated. It is says it’s preferable to run the Outlook/Exchange tool as close as possible to the time at which the Windows time zone patch is applied (to all computers) since that will minimize the likelihood of having single-instance calendar items that were created after the Windows time zone update was applied, but before the Outlook/Exchange tool was run.

Don’t take a chance of being responsible for your clients or yourself to miss appointments. Be sure to run this tool as suggested. Go to the Microsoft Office web site for specific instructions and for a link to the Download tool. The link is http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102086071033.aspx

Vickie

Do You Need a Virtual Assistant?

The virtual assistant (VA) industry is booming. As more and more people are leaving their jobs behind, they are finding that they can put their administrative skills to use and make money in the process.

First, let me explain what a virtual assistant is. VAs are small business owners who provide remote, professional administrative support while working in long-term collaborative relationships with only a handful of terrific clients. We are professionals, we are business owners, we are entrepreneurs who have a passion to provide support to the portions of your business that are necessary, but do not produce revenue.

So do you need a virtual assistant? Maybe you know you need help, but aren’t sure where to start. Let me give you a few ideas:

Correspondence
Calendar Management
Travel Arrangements
Research
Database Management
Proofreading/Editing
E-mail Coordination/Management
Contact Management
Auto-responders
Bookkeeping
Desktop Publishing
Ghost-Writing – Newsletters, Blogs, eZines
Transcription

These are just a few items to get your thoughts going.

What makes Elite Virtual Assistants different than other VAs is that the “heart and soul” of our business is to provide not only administrative business support but personal support as well. We want to become an integral part of your business. We can provide services such as bookkeeping and marketing campaigns – but they are additional specialty areas. They are not the “heart and soul” of a virtual assistant business.

If you’re interested in using a VA, or if you’d like “101+ Ways to Use a Virtual Assistant,” visit our Elite VAs web site.

Multi-Tasking – Should You or Shouldn’t You?

I have always been very proud of being a multi-tasker. I always felt it was a great strength.

But what I’m beginning to learn is that if I’m checking my emails while I’m attending a teleseminar (I had to put this in as I’ve done it) while I’m answering the phone while I’m blogging, where is my attention? Is it dedicated? No, it’s split between many things. So how can I say I gave my full attention to the teleseminar? How can I say I gave my full attention to the person on the phone (maybe a client)? How can I say I fully understood what I read in my emails? How can I say I fully explained myself in my blog? How can I say I gave 110% when I’m actually splitting it between everything else going on?

I won’t say we can’t be effective as multi-taskers. But I will say that I don’t believe we can be as effective as we would be if we had spent that same energy and focus and direction on one thing.

Yes, I still love the variety of doing different projects and I probably would choose to work on many different things, but only one at a time. I’m devoting my whole self to one project during that timeframe so I don’t feel that’s multi-tasking. If I can condition myself to do that with client projects, I need to condition myself to do that in the other areas of my business.

In order to be successful, we need to take time to sit and think and plan and assess. Otherwise, how do we know where we’re going? How do we know how our business is progressing? But in order to see the big picture and really do it justice, we must concentrate only on that.

So I’m going to work on this. I just got a book on marketing in the mail. My goal is to begin reading it. I won’t check my emails, I won’t check the forums, I won’t talk on the phone, I won’t blog.

By the way, I’ve got a great dish cooking in the oven and my load of laundry is almost done.

Are you  a multi-tasker? Is it keeping your business from growing as it should? Offload some of those tasks to me, your virtual assistant. I can help keep you organized, keep you up-to-date on where you need to be, help you with your blogging, get that marketing campaign going, keep up with your correspondence and set up your autoresponders for your new eZine. Check out my web site at Elite VAs for more information.

Vickie

Tweaking – The Hidden Marketing Secret

The following article is from an eZine I receive regularly from marketing guru, Robert Middleton. I find his eZines to always be informative and they contain tips that you can implement quickly and easily. I hope you enjoy reading and let me (and Robert) know the results that come from your tweaking!

Vickie

Wonder why some people get better marketing results than others? It’s because they tweak. One rarely discussed marketing secret (except amongst rabid direct marketers or online marketers), is the arcane art of tweaking. Tweaking your marketing is literally the key to getting more response to any marketing activity you attempt.

Tweak means to adjust or fine-tune. And this is exactly what people fail to do when it comes to their marketing. In fact, most do the opposite: They develop a web site and never change a pixel for years; they settle on a marketing message and never try anything new; or they give a speaking engagement and don’t try various “pitches” to get cards from participants.

The Science of Tweaking

Tweaking is what scientists do. They test something using an experiment. They get a certain result. Then they change a measurable variable and see what new result they get. They keep at this until they get the desired result (or not). Good marketers are like scientists, but they have more fun. Instead of experimenting on rats, they experiment on prospects.
They try one marketing tactic at a time and measure the result. Then they change a measurable variable and see if the prospect responds differently. Good scientists, if they are persistent, get grants to keep experimenting. Good marketers, if they are persistent, attract more clients and often get rich.

Let’s look at a few marketing experiments you can tweak.

1. Ezine signups from a web site – Growing a big eZine list is a great way to grow your business. Let’s look at the two main variables: a) home page of web site and b) eZine sign-up page of web site.

To conduct this experiment you must know: a) how many people land on your home page in any given period, b) how many people click onto the sign-up page, and c) how many people actually sign up. Using a simple web tracker that counts visitors and subscribers, you can get these statistics very easily. So let’s say in a week, 100 people go to your home page. Of those, 40% click onto your sign-up page. And then 25% of those actually sign up for the eZine. That makes a sign-up rate of 10%.

Now you start tweaking.

You work at making changes to your home page so that more visitors click through to the sign-up page. You might improve the design, the graphics, the headline, the offer for the report you get with the eZine, etc. Several tweaks might increase the number of people who click on the sign-up page to 50%. Now your total sign-up rate is 12.5%

Next you tweak away on the sign-up page. Perhaps you change the name of the report (more results-oriented), and you change the sign-up form (by making it simpler) and the placement of this form (you put it higher on the page).

Several tweaks of this kind may increase the number of actual sign-ups to 40%. Your total sign-up rate is now 20%. You’ve doubled your sign-up rate. And that’s how tweaking pays off!

2. Getting cards after a speaking event – What I used to say was, “I have a report that covers most of the material I discussed today. If you’d like a copy, just leave me your card and I’ll send it to you by email.” That pitch got me 30-40% of cards. So I tweaked my pitch.

I now say: “Here is a report that covers most of the material I discussed today. Who would like a copy? (and I get a show of hands) Great, please give me your card with a current email address and I’ll send it to you by email.” That pitch gets about 80% of people in the room giving me cards.

The tweak is that I got people to raise their hands saying they wanted the report. It more than doubled the results.

2. Your Audio Logo – When I use a problem-oriented Audio Logo: “I help Independent Professionals who are struggling to attract clients,” I get about five times the response than a solution-oriented Audio Logo: “I help Independent Professionals attract more clients.”

Go figure.

You don’t have to know all the reasons your tweaking changed the results, you just have to keep tweaking until the results improve.

What are you currently doing in your marketing that isn’t working as well as it could? Time to start tweaking!

“By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert’s web site at www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses.”

Do You Want to be a Serious Business Woman?

There’s been a lot of talk recently about what it means to be a Serious Business Woman. We are all unique individuals so our answers are unique and different. But it did make me stop and think about my business and just how serious I am. How about you? How serious are you about your business? Do you want success or do you just want to drift along?

These are some of my thoughts of what it means to be a Serious Business Woman:

• A serious business woman is one who takes all she has – her knowledge, her skills, her emotions – and puts it into her business.

• She is one who isn’t a “know-it-all” but understands that there are experts who can help her.

• She is one who is in tune with her instincts and trusts herself to make decisions and stick with them.

• She is one who makes the bad days “lessons” and the good days “victories.”

• She is one who wants the best for those true business women in her industry as she realizes there’s more than enough to go around.

• She is one who surrounds herself with professionals and backs off from those who only “play” business.

• She is a positive influence rather than a negative whiner.

• She loves what she does and is proud of who she is, what she has accomplished, and where she’s going in life.

• She doesn’t let fear stop her from taking risks.

So has this given you something to think about? Do you want to be a Serious Business Woman but feel you haven’t had the tips to make it happen? Or maybe you have others you’d like to add to the list.

So let’s hear from you! Give me your thoughts on what makes you a Serious Business Woman?

Vickie

Not Using Time Management Skills Can Wreak Havoc on your Life

In today’s world, we are all busy, busy, busy. We work 60+ hours per week; we respond to our emails; we network; we market; we take the kids to soccer; we clean the house and do a load of laundry; we cook dinner; we read the paper; we fall into an exhausted sleep; and we get up and do it all over again the next day.

Time management should not be thought of as something you’d do if you had time to sit and think about it – it’s something you must do in order to stay productive, healthy and happy. Here are some time management skills I’ve learned to use throughout my business and personal life:

• Make and USE To-Do Lists – How often have you realized you forgot something at the store? What about taking that dish to a sick neighbor? How about getting your slacks cleaned for that important meeting? Making and using To-Do Lists for the things that don’t have specific times will help you remember not only the big things, but the little things that wreck so much havoc in your life. Be sure to mark off the things you accomplish and move the things you don’t over to the next day.

• Use a Calendar – Did you forget the early morning meeting? How about your daughter’s dentist appointment? Using a Calendar for the scheduled items will save you heartache and stress, not to mention possibly your job. If you’re tech savvy, use a computer to keep all your appointments and To-Do lists readily available. If you like the idea of having a piece of paper in your hand, get a personal planner. There are so many options out there these days.

• Keep Organized – Is there anything worse than getting ready to pay a bill and you can’t find where you put it? How about wanting to email or call a potential client back and you’ve misplaced their email address or telephone number? The old saying, “A place for everything and everything in its place” is so true – you must be organized so you can find the things you’re looking for. This will save you so much time! Buy boxes, organizers, drawers, files, whatever it takes to get you to the point that you’re not constantly looking for something.

• Plan Ahead - Did you promise to cook chili for the annual fundraiser, but everything’s frozen? Have you waited until the last minute and now you can’t get tickets to your favorite play for your surprise anniversary gift? Planning ahead will not only save you time – it will save you stress and tension, two of the major causes of death in our country today. Incorporating the above tips are all ways to plan ahead.

Does it take time to implement the above strategies into your everyday life? Yes. But will it save you from wreaking havoc on your life? Yes. Your main goal should be to be a productive, healthy and happy person for your business, your family, and yourself. Incorporating some time management tools will help you not only achieve that goal, but it will affect others in your sphere of influence. Remember, everything you do touches someone else. Be a positive influence by beginning today to use time management skills in every area of your life.

Are you Applying the Technology You’re Learning?

I’ve been thinking lately that as technology expands, we spend more and more time looking at that technology, trying to figure out if it will work in our business. As small business owners, it behooves us to stay up-to-date on what’s going on around us so that we can be the best we can be. But let’s be careful about spending all of our time “learning” about all the new stuff and be sure we are implementing what we are learning. With networking, blogging, writing, podcasting, designing web sites, creating tag words, and all the other tech stuff that’s out there, we could spend days, weeks and even months just learning how to use them.

It’s so easy to get on a networking site and spend hours writing comments, having lively discussions, and just meeting new colleagues. Then we start attending teleseminars and more seminars and more seminars. How about those tag words – adding, rearranging, thinking about specific words that will help your business? And of course, e-mail. You read, respond, read, respond, read, respond.

While all this new technology is exciting and wonderful, be sure you are Doing something with all you are learning. It doesn’t matter if you’ve attended 15 blogging seminars, 10 podcasting seminars, and talked with 3 experts – if you’re not applying it to your business, it’s a waste of time. You can be gaining hundreds of new colleagues by networking, but if you’re not applying any of the lessons and techniques that they’ve used, you’re just socializing. Now don’t take offense to that statement – socializing is a good thing – just don’t get to a point where that’s all you’re doing.

Technology is meant to grow your business, to take it to new heights, to help you to succeed. Keep those thoughts in mind. In order to be what you want to be in your business, you must schedule your learning curves. Just as you schedule appointments, you must schedule time for networking, time for blogging, time for writing. Different things work for different people – you may want to schedule a full day and use that day to blog, to write, to network, to attend a seminar, or you may want to schedule an hour or two each day, responding to e-mails, making new contacts, etc. That’s the great thing about owning your own business, you can do it the way that works best for your situation and your personality.

As with anything you do, you must exercise moderation with technology. Spend some time learning how to blog, then start blogging. Spend some time learning to market your business, then start marketing. Spend some time networking, then apply the suggestions to your business. You will begin to see your business grow and become what you want it to be, a thriving, fun business that is enjoying success.

So take the time to learn, but take the time to apply what you learn! That will make the difference.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Since it’s Valentine’s Day, and love is in the air, give some time to your other love today – your business. Find areas where it needs some attention and give it an extra dose of care today.

Maybe it’s your blogging – you’ve said you’re going to start doing it, or you’ve said you’re going to start doing it more often – today’s the day to make the change.

Maybe it’s networking – you’ve said you don’t have time – today’s the day to make the time. Give it some attention, develop new friends, step outside your comfort zone.

Maybe it’s marketing – you’ve said you don’t know how – today’s the day to learn. Start getting free newsletters from marketing experts, attend marketing seminars, buy marketing books. Learn all you can in order to effectively hone your message.

Let today be a day of loving – not only with your significant other, but with your other significant. It’s time to put a little love into your company. Save this evening for your first love – spend some time telling him or her what you love about them. This is the day! Feel the love!

What Are You Worth?

Are you making what you’re worth? Or do you believe you’re charging what the market will bear in your area?Are you using a business owner’s mentality to set your rates? Or are you still stuck in an employee’s mentality?

A problem many VAs seem to be having is that they believe “the market” can’t bear their prices if they live in a small town. I too live in a small town and I’ve come to the realization that sometimes we don’t give the market a chance. We just assume they won’t pay the prices, yet many times we haven’t asked. Just because we live in small towns doesn’t mean there aren’t smart business people here. And if they are smart business people, they will realize the benefits of doing business with a virtual assistant. Do they charge $20 an hour for their professional services? Absolutely not! Then why should we?

Part of this mentality is residual “corporate world” mentality. We have to get out of the employee mentality and into the business owner mentality. We have to remember that the buck stops with us as the owner. As business owners, we take care of taxes, we take care of insurance, we take care of equipment, we take care of retirement funds. If we are not figuring all of these things into our hourly rates then sooner or later our business will fail. We cannot run a business charging an employee hourly rate.

If you are a professional, and you market yourself the proper way, the potential client will be sold on your services and what you can do for them. Then most of them will not even think twice when it’s time to talk prices. They’ll realize that in the long run (which is what we all should be striving for – long-term collaborations with our clients), the benefits you are providing and the growth they will see in their business will make your prices seem like a steal!

Business owners know the value of worth and they set their prices to reflect same. They also understand that to be treated as a professional, one must conduct oneself as a professional. If you are charging prices that are much lower or at the low end of industry standards, you may be giving out a signal that you are not as expert in your field as others. Even if it’s just a perception, you can’t afford to be giving anyone that perception. If you’re not ready to charge the high-end prices that your industry will withstand, go to the middle of the road. Spend some time honing your skills and services. When you are ready to raise prices, your clients will go with you because they know your value.

So take some time this week to figure out what you are worth.